How to Use contra in a Sentence

contra

noun
  • The author is not dead, contra Roland Barthes—but how, then, to deal with Naipaul and his ilk?
    Constance Grady, Vox, 18 Aug. 2018
  • At the time, North helped figure out a way to get the contras that support without Congress.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 7 May 2018
  • Iran-contra, the Whitewater probe that became the Lewinsky probe—have a way of expanding.
    Howard Kurtz, Fox News, 19 May 2017
  • Iran-contra was about whether Ronald Reagan secretly traded arms for hostages.
    Howard Kurtz, Fox News, 21 June 2017
  • Mr. Aronson backed military aid for the contras, but wanted them to commit to protecting human rights.
    William Neuman, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2016
  • That’s why the president, contra Never Trump, is the fitting leader for the Republican Party.
    Jeet Heer, New Republic, 5 June 2017
  • Organizer Eli Malone was invited by a friend, and the space was their first introduction to contra.
    Nicole Blackwood, chicagotribune.com, 12 June 2019
  • Looks like the good old-fashioned square dance, AKA contra dancing, accompanied by a fiddle and a helpful caller, could keep older brains firing on all pistons.
    Monte Whaley, The Denver Post, 29 Mar. 2017
  • He was involved in many of his era’s highest-profile scandals, including Iran-contra and the Marcos family’s effort to spirit money out of the Philippines.
    Stephen Kinzer, New York Times, 6 June 2017
  • The Reagan administration supported the cause of the rebels, known as contras, but Congress stopped the U.S. from supporting them financially.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 7 May 2018
  • At the time Ronald Reagan was backing contras to overthrow the revolutionary government, which had deposed the Somoza dictatorship in the late 1970s.
    Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, 31 Aug. 2017
  • When the operation unraveled in 1986, after a contra supply plane was shot down, Mr. Posada turned to private security work in Guatemala.
    Ellie Silverman, Washington Post, 24 May 2018
  • Those twin developments -- coming hard on top of one another -- go a long way to disrupting the White House's preferred narrative that, contra to what the media reports, Trump has been super, super tough on Russia.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 17 Apr. 2018
  • Un conductor apartó la mirada para leer un texto y se estrelló contra ellos y contra otro hombre, empujando a Mitchell al río.
    Erika Pasantes Y John Maines, El Sentinel, 6 Feb. 2018
  • North worked with national security adviser John Poindexter to create a secure communication channel to handle messages regarding arms sales to Iran and the transfer of money to the contras, a militant group in Nicaragua.
    Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY, 7 May 2018
  • But, contra ProPublica’s initial reporting (and mine), that wasn’t really the case with the offensive targeting terms allowed by Facebook’s advertising tool.
    Will Oremus, Slate Magazine, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Un ex-convicto participa contra su voluntad en peleas clandestinas para ganar dinero para la operación de una joven.
    Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2019
  • Another is that pulling out of the deal would create fractures with allies who continue to back it; withdrawing would destroy American credibility, and contra Trump there is little chance of renegotiating at better terms.
    David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2017
  • The dehumanization and torture of people simply seeking a better way of life, fleeing what climate change and American imperialism have wrought, is contra to every purportedly American value.
    Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 1 Aug. 2019
  • The author is not dead, contra Roland Barthes—but how, then, to deal with Naipaul and his ilk?
    Constance Grady, Vox, 18 Aug. 2018
  • At the time, North helped figure out a way to get the contras that support without Congress.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 7 May 2018
  • Iran-contra, the Whitewater probe that became the Lewinsky probe—have a way of expanding.
    Howard Kurtz, Fox News, 19 May 2017
  • Iran-contra was about whether Ronald Reagan secretly traded arms for hostages.
    Howard Kurtz, Fox News, 21 June 2017
  • Mr. Aronson backed military aid for the contras, but wanted them to commit to protecting human rights.
    William Neuman, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2016
  • That’s why the president, contra Never Trump, is the fitting leader for the Republican Party.
    Jeet Heer, New Republic, 5 June 2017
  • Organizer Eli Malone was invited by a friend, and the space was their first introduction to contra.
    Nicole Blackwood, chicagotribune.com, 12 June 2019
  • Looks like the good old-fashioned square dance, AKA contra dancing, accompanied by a fiddle and a helpful caller, could keep older brains firing on all pistons.
    Monte Whaley, The Denver Post, 29 Mar. 2017
  • He was involved in many of his era’s highest-profile scandals, including Iran-contra and the Marcos family’s effort to spirit money out of the Philippines.
    Stephen Kinzer, New York Times, 6 June 2017
  • The Reagan administration supported the cause of the rebels, known as contras, but Congress stopped the U.S. from supporting them financially.
    Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 7 May 2018
  • At the time Ronald Reagan was backing contras to overthrow the revolutionary government, which had deposed the Somoza dictatorship in the late 1970s.
    Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader, 31 Aug. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contra.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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