Definition of "contrariety"

What differences of sense and reason, what contrarietie of imaginations doth the diversitie of our passions present unto us?

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

This contrariety of humours betwixt my father and my uncle, was the source of many a fraternal squabble.

1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 61

The contrariety of views and designs, the concertative, dilatory conferences of a numerous assembly ( rent and divided as such assemblies are ever found to be ) , render it expedient that the prerogative of commencing war be confided to the advised discretion of the executory power.

1800, James Sedgwick, Remarks, Critical and Miscellaneous, on the Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone, page 171

Yet however within my reach, however tempting they may appear, when I think upon the contrarieties, the restraints, the uncertainties that in this sublunary temporary sojourn would interpose their bane, the scene appears joyless, and I fly, rejoicing fly, to rest my hopes, faith, confidence on that base which is immutable, never-changing, never-ending; in a word, I fly to repose myself on the bosom of my God.

1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 192

The wind blowing steady and gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and the current, and the billows rose and fell unbroken.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883

This book puts forward a clearer understanding of Diderot's perplexities by taking into account the dynamics of his thought processes, especially the mode, peculiar to him, of thinking via contrarieties.

1998, Walter E. Rex, Diderot's Counterpoints

At the heart of his argument is the contrariety between day and night, light and dark.

2011 September 21, Tim Blanning, “The reinvention of the night”, in Times Literary Supplement