contradicts

Contradicts is the third-person singular present tense of the verb contradict. It means to deny the truth of a statement or assertion, or to be in conflict with it, as when new information or evidence undermines an existing claim. The term is commonly used in reporting, debate, and analysis to indicate that one statement runs counter to another.

In everyday use, contradicting a claim may involve presenting alternate facts, pointing out logical inconsistencies, or offering counterexamples. In formal logic and philosophy, a statement contradicts another if both cannot be true at the same time; a contradiction is a situation in which a proposition and its negation are both asserted. The verb often appears with objects such as "contradicts the witness" or "contradicts established theory."

Contradiction can also be part of refutation, where an argument is shown to be false by revealing contradictions within it or between it and observed data. In media and scholarly writing, to contradict a source implies that the source’s claim is false or unsupported by evidence, rather than merely differing in opinion.

See also: contradiction, rebuttal, refutation.