Literary notes about Contrarily (AI summary)
In literature, "contrarily" functions as a device to highlight a reversal, opposition, or unexpected deviation from the norm. Writers employ it to contrast actions, ideas, or characteristics—such as showing how a duel’s outcome is decisively reversed [1] or how an individual's usual behavior is subverted [2, 3]. It can indicate both a physical turn of direction, as seen in mirrored movements [4], and a figurative deviation from customary expectations, whether in social contexts or natural phenomena [5, 6]. This usage enriches the narrative by emphasizing contrasts and deepening our understanding of character and circumstance [7, 8].
- No conflict could well have appeared more unequal in conditions or more contrarily decisive in result than the duel between these two men.
— from Lord Randolph Churchill by Winston Churchill - He was extremely taciturn, contrarily to his ordinary habit, for he commonly talked very freely with old Sarah whilst she served him.
— from Wenderholme: A Story of Lancashire and Yorkshire by Philip Gilbert Hamerton - And yet, so contrarily are we made, I continued to be unkind while in my heart I was asking pardon of him.
— from The Guest of Quesnay by Booth Tarkington - Then contrarily he did with the right hand what he had done with the left, and with the left what he had done with the right.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - The plans were made by the Rhenish architect Garin, and, contrarily to French practice, included two transepts and two apses.
— from The Battle of Verdun (1914-1918) - But this flame would not burn me up; quite contrarily, the probability is that I would not be injured in the least.
— from The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla With special reference to his work in polyphase currents and high potential lighting by Thomas Commerford Martin - Contrarily, despondency, or a lethargic state of mind, causes the movement of the blood to slacken.
— from The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Frank Preston Stearns - Why the dedications are, to Winter and the other seasons, contrarily to custom, left out in the collected works, the reader may inquire.
— from The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Nine Volumes, Volume 08 The Lives of the Poets, Volume II by Samuel Johnson
