Bien au contraire
Example: Bien au contraire, cette décision améliore clairement la situation actuelle.
Definition
"Bien au contraire" is a French expression used to emphasize that what has just been mentioned is actually the opposite of the truth or expectation. It serves to clearly contradict a previous statement, as in: "Bien au contraire, cette décision améliore clairement la situation actuelle."
Etymology
The phrase "Bien au contraire" combines "bien," meaning 'well' or 'indeed,' with "au contraire," meaning 'to the contrary' or 'on the contrary.' It originated from formal French usage to express strong opposition or contradiction and has been used in discourse to highlight disagreement or correction.
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"Bien au contraire" appears in the Vocaplus list "", containing 105 commonly used expressions.
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