on the contrary

Expression

Expression on the contrary

1. You use on the contrary when you want to stress that the truth is the opposite of what was believed.
   • Synonym: to the contrary

   He did not refuse. On the contrary, he told his them he would be happy to accept.

Usage

The sentence before on the contrary is negative and the sentence with on the contrary is positive, but they make the same claim about the same subject (e.g., X is not short. On the contrary, it is tall.).

Don't confuse this with in contrast. You use in contrast to say different things about different subjects (e.g., X is short. In contrast, Y is tall.).

Related words

• contrary