contresens
French, noun/kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s/
contresens is spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-S-E-N-S (10 letters) and appears 1.0 times per million words in written French, the 30,509th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Contresens is a French masculine noun meaning “backward interpretation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Sens contraire au sens naturel d’une proposition, d’une phrase, etc”.
What does contresens mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinebackward interpretation
- 2
masculinemisinterpretation or mistranslation
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Sens contraire au sens naturel d’une proposition, d’une phrase, etc. 2. Tout sens différent du sens véritable d’un texte. 3. Toute manière de lire, de prononcer, de déclamer, etc., qui ne s’accorde pas avec le sens des paroles. 4. Dans le code de la route français, ainsi que dans la législation belge, le sens opposé au sens de circulation des véhicules.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of contresens
- contre-sens
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce contresens?
- /kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s/
- \kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to contresens
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is contresens in French?
contresens appears 1.0 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).