counterexamples
Cases that disprove
Counterexamples are specific instances that disprove a general claim or rule.
If someone asserts that all swans are white, a single black swan serves as a counterexample.
In logic, mathematics, and everyday argument, counterexamples are powerful tools for demonstrating that a proposition is false or that a theory has limits.
The critic offered several counterexamples to undermine the study's conclusions.
Disproving a statement
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- rebuttalFormal response disputing claims
- invalidationAct of nullifying
- disconfirmationEvidence negating a claim
debunking · contradiction · negation · discrediting · undermining · confutation · defeater · disproving
Distant data point
- anomalyDeparture from the expected
- aberrationDeviation from the norm
- deviationDeparture from expected path
- irregularityDeparture from standard
nonconformity · oddity · misfit · singularity · exception
Denial or cancellation
- contradictionOpposing claims, incompatible together
- falsifierOne who distorts truth
- predicateSentence's non-subject portion
- propositionStatement expressing a judgment
refutation
Disproving a statement
- falsificationDeliberate alteration of truth
- rebuttalFormal response disputing claims
- invalidationAct of nullifying
disconfirmation · debunking · contradiction · negation · discrediting · undermining · confutation · defeater · disproving · reductio
outlier
Distant data point
- anomalyDeparture from the expected
- aberrationDeviation from the norm
- deviationDeparture from expected path
irregularity · nonconformity · oddity · misfit · singularity · exception
negation
Denial or cancellation
- contradictionOpposing claims, incompatible together
- falsifierOne who distorts truth
- predicateSentence's non-subject portion
- Socratic questioningclarifying questions, hypotheticals
- critical thinkingcritical thinking, reasoning, logic puzzles, analysis, inference
counterexamplessupporting evidence
Facts validating a claim
corroborating evidence · proof · confirmations · validation · corroboration
counterexamplesinstantiations
Concrete realizations of abstractions
proofs · verifications · confirmations · exemplars · validations