contra

prep

1. Against; contrary or opposed to; in opposition or contrast to.

adv

1. Contrary to something.

   “[…] it is useless to pray “Thy kingdom come” and vote contra or stay away from the polls; […]”

noun

1. A deal to swap goods or services.
2. (derogatory)A conservative; originally tied to Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.
3. (attributive, often)An entry (or account) that cancels another entry (or account).

   “a contra position; a contra entry”

   “The sum for each contra account is shown in the last column.”

4. (informal)Any of the musical instruments in the contrabass range, e.g. contrabassoon, contrabass clarinet or, especially, double bass.
5. A contra dance.
6. (New-England, US, obsolete)A country dance.

   “Folk histories record that contras were gradually displaced by the introduction of the quadrille and the new couple dances.”

7. A member of any of various rightist guerrilla groups violently opposing the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua and secretly funded by the United States government in the 1980s.

verb

1. (no-past, no-present-participle, participle, past)To undo; to reverse.

   “to contra a position (an entry)”