countersense

English

Etymology

From counter- +‎ sense; adaptation of French contresens.

Noun

countersense (countable and uncountable, plural countersenses)

1. An opposite meaning.
   • c. 1645, James Howell, “XIX. To the R.H. the Earl of Clare.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume IV, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 462:

     Moreover, I find there are ſome Words now in French which are turn'd to a counterſenſe, as we uſe the Dutch Word Crank in Engliſh to be well-diſpos'd, which in the Original ſignifieth to be ſick; ſo in French, Cocu is taken for one whoſe Wife is light, and hath made him a paſſive Cuckold; whereas clean contrary, Cocu, which is the Cuckoo, doth uſe to lay her Eggs in another Birds Neſt.

   • 1895, Herbert Baynes, chapter IV, in The Idea of God and the Moral Sense in the Light of Language, volume II, page 5:

     But in order to gauge the concept of Evil in all its forms we must compare it with the corresponding forms of Good. For the law of relativity applies here as elsewhere, giving us sense and countersense, thesis and antithesis, positive and negative.

   • 1968, Francis L. Lawrence, Moliere: The Comedy of Unreason, page 102:

     Panurge's comedy is the agony of indecision as he struggles obstinately and vainly to interpret every unfavorable omen in its countersense, to substitute his willful imagining for reality and fate.

2. A nonsensical idea; a contradiction in terms; something that contradicts an established principle, architectural or musical style, etc.
   • 1905, J. M. Robertson, chapter IV, in Letters on Reasoning, page 225:

     On that line we reach simply the old countersense: "All is Reality" is as meaningless a proposition as "All is Illusion."

   • 1899, William Archer, “What Can Be Done for the Drama?”, in The Anglo-Saxon Review, volume IV, page 232:

     A state theatre, where it exists in a democratic country, is always a legacy from an autocratic past. If it be a worthy and well-managed theatre, to which popular sentiment is habituated, it is no doubt a highly desirable legacy. But for a democracy, and especially an Anglo-Saxon democracy, to set about creating such a theatre would be, I think, a countersense.

   • c. 1900, Lura F. Heckenlively, The Fundamentals of Gregorian Chant, page 247:

     This Introit is to be sung broadly, but always without heaviness, and almost in half voice, without great nuances, and in a rather low tonality. It would give a serious countersense to sing it with a great cry of joy, and to give it "éclat" under the pretext that "it is Easter".