tout au contraire
\tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\
The verdict
“tout au contraire” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Au contraire.
Corpus desk
Index FR-tout-au-contraire · tout au contraire · French
tout au contraire · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-8 8 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" 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 | tout au contraire |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « tout au contraire » en français
Rare enough to double-check
tout au contraire is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Au contraire.".
tout au contraire has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is tout au contraire, spelled T-O-U-T- -A-U- -C-O-N-T-R-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1Au contraire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how tout au contraire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Après des années d’obstinée réflexion, d’observation continue et patiente – quoique, en vérité, je ne me pique pas de psychologie, tout au contraire –, j’imagine l’avoir enfin trouvée, cette cause.
Synonyms
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.