Standard Lemma guide

contraindication

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌkɒntɹə.ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪʃən

1

noun

Meaning 1

A factor or symptom which makes a certain treatment inadvisable, generally or individually.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(medicine) a reason that makes it inadvisable to prescribe a particular drug or employ a particular procedure or treatment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: indication

Broader terms: reason

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Italic *-teros Proto-Italic *komterosder. Proto-Italic *komterād Latin contrābor. English contra- English indication English contraindication From contra- + indication.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُضَادّ اِسْتِطْبَاب (muḍādd istiṭbāb) — factor or symptom
  • Azerbaijani: əks-göstəriş — factor or symptom
  • Belarusian: проціпаказа́нне (procipakazánnje) — factor or symptom
  • Bulgarian: противопоказание (protivopokazanie) — factor or symptom
  • Chinese Mandarin: 禁忌症 (jìnjìzhèng) — factor or symptom
  • Czech: kontraindikace — factor or symptom
  • Dutch: tegenindicatie — factor or symptom
  • Finnish: vasta-aihe — factor or symptom
  • Finnish: käytön este — factor or symptom
  • French: contre-indication — factor or symptom
  • French: contrindication — factor or symptom
  • Galician: contraindicación — factor or symptom
  • Georgian: უკუჩვენება (uḳučveneba) — factor or symptom
  • German: Gegenanzeige — factor or symptom
  • German: Kontraindikation — factor or symptom
  • Greek: αντένδειξη (anténdeixi) — factor or symptom
  • Ido: kontreindiko — factor or symptom
  • Italian: controindicazione — factor or symptom
  • Polish: przeciwwskazanie — factor or symptom
  • Portuguese: contraindicação — factor or symptom
  • Russian: противопоказа́ние (protivopokazánije) — factor or symptom
  • Spanish: contraindicación — factor or symptom
  • Turkish: kontrendikasyon — factor or symptom
  • Ukrainian: протипоказа́ння (protypokazánnja) — factor or symptom