GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Contradiction , n. [L. contradictio answer, objection: cf. F. contradiction.]
   An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or affirmed; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion; contrary declaration; gainsaying.
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   His fair demands
   Shall be accomplished without contradiction.
   Shak.
   
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   Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency; incongruity or contrariety; one who, or that which, is inconsistent.
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   can he make deathless death? That were to make
   Strange contradiction.
   Milton.
   
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   We state our experience and then we come to a manly resolution of acting in contradiction to it.
   Burke.
   
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   Both parts of a contradiction can not possibly be true.
   Hobbes.
   
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   Of contradictions infinite the slave.
   Wordsworth.
   
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   Principle of contradiction (Logic), the axiom or law of thought that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time, or a thing must either be or not be, or the same attribute can not at the same time be affirmed and and denied of the same subject; also called the law of the excluded middle. It develops itself in three specific forms which have been called the “Three Logical Axioms.” First, “A is A.” Second, “A is not Not-A” Third, “Everything is either A or Not-A.”
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2.       
   Principle , n. [F. principe, L. principium beginning, foundation, fr. princeps, -cipis. See Prince.]
   Beginning; commencement. [Obs.]
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   Doubting sad end of principle unsound.
   Spenser.
   
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   A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
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   The soul of man is an active principle.
   Tillotson.
   
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   An original faculty or endowment.
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   Nature in your principles hath set [benignity].
   Chaucer.
   
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   Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering.
   Stewart.
   
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   A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.
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   Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.
   Heb. vi. 1.
   
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   A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad.
   Milton.
   
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   A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle.
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   All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind.
   Law.
   
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   (Chem.) Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc.
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   Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.
   Gregory.
   
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   Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See under Bitter, Contradiction, etc.
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