Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-TRA-RI'E-TY, n. [L. contrarietas. See Contrary.]

1. Opposition in fact, essence, quality, or principle; repugnance. The expedition failed by means of a contrariety of winds. There is a contrariety in the nature of virtue and vice; of love and hatred; of truth and falsehood. Among men of the same profession, we find a contrariety of opinions.
2. Inconsistency; quality or position destructive of its opposite. How can these contrarieties agree. Shak.