Meaning & use
contrapositive
A statement formed by negating and reversing the two parts of a conditional statement.
See it in a sentence
The contrapositive of 'if it rains, the ground is wet' is 'if the ground is not wet, it did not rain.'
Mathematicians often prove a statement by proving its contrapositive instead.
A note on using this word
A conditional statement and its contrapositive are always logically equivalent, unlike the converse or inverse, which are not.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
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