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Contrariness   /kˈɑntrɛrinəs/   Listen
Contrariness

noun
1.
Deliberate and stubborn unruliness and resistance to guidance or discipline.  Synonyms: perverseness, perversity.
2.
A fussy and eccentric disposition.  Synonyms: crankiness, crotchetiness, grumpiness.






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"Contrariness" Quotes from Famous Books



... ability, and was on the point of giving up the scheme when he met Smith. He was instantly impressed by the engineer's highly commonplace face; he had had considerable experience with human contrariness, and felt sure that Smith must be an absolute wonder, since he ...
— The Lord of Death and the Queen of Life • Homer Eon Flint

... before setting out for market, had commissioned to "see as she went." Not that Joanna could really bring herself to believe that Ellen was truthful in saying she did not care about the show, but she thought it possible that sheer contrariness might keep her away. ...
— Joanna Godden • Sheila Kaye-Smith

... There is no contrariness about "The Mandarins." The players sit in a circle, and the game is begun by one of them remarking to the next, "My ship has come home from China." The answer is "Yes, and what has it brought?" The ...
— What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes • Dorothy Canfield Fisher

... see her there yet," said Mrs. Jonas, who always took a hopeful view of everything, even of Sara's contrariness. But she felt discouraged, too. Well, ...
— Further Chronicles of Avonlea • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... his prudence, and his other virtues he has known how to earn the affections of every one." Unfortunately, there was one important exception, as the cardinal was forced to add: "The damsel, either out of her own contrariness, or because so induced by others, which is easier to believe, constantly refuses to ...
— The Life of Cesare Borgia • Raphael Sabatini

... complete failure," repeated Lilian distinctly. "Isn't it queer? She's really very clever, you know, and awfully amusing, besides being so amazingly beautiful. But there is a little footless streak of contrariness in her—we noticed it at boarding-school,—and it seems to ...
— Betty Wales Freshman • Edith K. Dunton



Words linked to "Contrariness" :   cussedness, fractiousness, wilfulness, unruliness, contrary, crankiness, ill nature, willfulness, orneriness



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