on the contrary

Idioms & Phrases

on the contrary

It's the opposite, as in Is his shoulder hurting?On the contrary, it's all better, or We thought you didn't like opera.On the contrary, I love it. This phrase, at first put as by or for or in the contrary, dates from the late 1300s; on has been used since the mid-1800s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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