1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, London: Andrew Crooke, Chapter 42 “Of Power Ecclesiasticall,” p. 270,
[…] the Ministers of Christ in this world, have no Power by that title, to Punish any man for not Beleeving, or for Contradicting what they say;

I spent the whole long hike back to camp thinking about that amazing letter. It didn’t sound in the least like anything he had ever said in class. Oh, I don’t mean it contradicted anything he had told us in class; it was just entirely different in tone.

[…] all these people having deservedly the reputation of good sense, penetration, and so-forth, I cannot contradict them with credit to myself.

“I always contradict my husband when he says that,” said Mrs. Thornbury sweetly. “You men! Where would you be if it weren’t for the women!”

1760, Laurence Sterne, The Sermons of Mr. Yorick, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Volume 1, Sermon 2, p. 32,
[…] as he is going to a house dedicated to joy and mirth, it was fit he should divest himself of whatever was likely to contradict that intention, or be inconsistent with it.

My persona was mildly liked by television audiences. Its features were recognizable and caricaturable—the cigarette in its Dunhill holder wielded as gracefully as a Queen Anne fan, the Savile Row suitings whose conservative elegance was contradicted by opennecked silk shirts from Kuala Lumpur or by cream polo sweaters […]

1662, Margaret Cavendish, The Matrimonial Trouble, Act II, Scene 21 in Playes written by the thrice noble, illustrious and excellent princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle, London: John Martyn et al., p. 435,
Lady Sprightly. What had you to do to contradict my commands?
Doll Subtilty. They were not fit to be obey’d, wherefore they were forbid.

[…] magic hath been publicly professed in former times, in Salamanca, Cracovia, and other places, though after censured by several universities, and now generally contradicted, though practised by some still […].

Contradict

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