contre toute attente
\kɔ̃.tʁə tu.t‿a.tɑ̃t\
The verdict
“contre toute attente” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - En dépit de tout ce qu’on avait pensé auparavant.
Corpus desk
Index FR-contre-toute-attente · contre toute attente · French
contre toute attente · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-8 8 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | contre toute attente |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.tʁə tu.t‿a.tɑ̃t\ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « contre toute attente » en français
Rare enough to double-check
contre toute attente is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \kɔ̃.tʁə tu.t‿a.tɑ̃t\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "En dépit de tout ce qu’on avait pensé auparavant.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for contre toute attente, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is contre toute attente, spelled C-O-N-T-R-E- -T-O-U-T-E- -A-T-T-E-N-T-E.
Definition
- 1En dépit de tout ce qu’on avait pensé auparavant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how contre toute attente appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Rappelons le cas bien connu de Karen Ann Quinlan qui a continué à vivre contre toute attente, et a même survécu près de 10 ans, après que l’on ait arrêté l’assistance respiratoire.
Contre toute attente, cette proposition n'est pas du goût du shah qui préfère s'en aller cette fois encore, après avoir cependant offert un plateau de fruits aux tentatrices. Autre pays, autres mœurs.
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.