contravariance
"contravariance" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contravariance” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The reversal of the order of data types acted upon by an operator.
Corpus desk
Index EN-contravariance · contravariance · English
contravariance · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contravariance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “contravariance” in English
Rare enough to double-check
contravariance is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for contravariance in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From contra- + variance. The correct English form is contravariance, spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-V-A-R-I-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The reversal of the order of data types acted upon by an operator.
- 2A functor which reverses composition.
- 3Of vectors, the property of scaling inversely with a change of basis, as opposed to covariance.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how contravariance appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I get why with covariance I can return a Dog (a Dog is a Mammal), but why does contravariance work the other way? Shouldn't it accept a derived type when it expects a base type? Contravariance is consistent with Postel's Law: […]
Etymology
From contra- + variance.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.