contredise

Contredise is a neologism occasionally used in rhetoric and argumentation to describe a device that juxtaposes opposing claims within a single utterance. In this sense, contredise refers to a move in which a speaker presents a position and, in the same breath, acknowledges an incompatible counter-position, often to foreground tension in the argument or invite critical scrutiny of the claim.

Origin and usage: The term blends the French prefix contre- (“against”) with an English -ise forming suffix to indicate a process. It is not widely attested in standard dictionaries and remains primarily a niche or speculative term in discussions of argumentative form.

Characteristics and purpose: Contredise is distinct from straightforward contradiction or antithesis. It operates at the level of a single proposition or sentence and emphasizes the coexistence of competing claims, potentially encouraging examination of assumptions rather than resolving them.

Examples: For example, a contredise might appear as a sentence that asserts a policy’s benefits while immediately signaling its potential drawbacks within the same clause, such as: “This reform will improve efficiency, contredise, but it may also increase long-term costs.” Such usage aims to draw attention to internal tensions in an argument.

Reception and related terms: Because contredise lacks formal status, it appears mainly in analytic essays and online glossaries rather than in canonical rhetoric handbooks. Related concepts include antithesis, paradox, contradiction, dialectic, and juxtaposition. See also discourse analysis and argument structure.