contra (redirected from Contras)

Against; conflicting; opposite.

A contra-balance is the amount in an account of a creditor that is the opposite of the usual balance of such an account. It is an account receivable (a debt owed to the creditor) but with a credit balance (an amount owed to the debtor greater than what is owed to the creditor). The creditor therefore owes the debtor money, the opposite of the normal debtor-creditor relationship.

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contra adj. Latin for against or opposite to. This usage is usually found in legal writing in statements like: "The decision in the case of Hammerhead v. Nail is contra to the rule stated in Keeler v. Beach."

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contra adverb adverse to, against, con, contrarily, contrariwise, contrawise, conversely, counter, in conflict with, in contrast to, in opposition to, inversely, loathe to, on the contrary, on the other hand, opposed to, opposite, oppositely, otherwise, per contra, quite the contrary, to the contrary, vice versa, versus

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contra noun antipode, antithesis, antonym, converse, counter, extreme, inverse, obverse, offset, opposite, reverse, the other side

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contra preposition adverse to, against, at cross purroses, athwart, contrariwise, counter, in conflict with, in opposition to, opposed to, opposite to, over against, versus, vis-à-vis

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CONTRA. Over; against; opposite to anything: as, such a case lays down a certain principle; such other case, contra.