< French contre-temps, -tems, bad or false time, motion out of time, inopportuneness, unexpected and untoward accident.
1. Fencing. A pass or thrust which is made at a wrong or inopportune moment. Obs.
2. a. An inopportune occurrence; an untoward accident; an unexpected mishap or hitch.
b. A disagreement or argument; a dispute.
3. Dance. A step danced on the unaccented portion of the beat; spec. in Ballet. (OED)
"Deniz said the shooting wasn't a big deal. 'That kind of thing often happens with us,' he said.
'It happens that people get shot?'
'Well, they don't often get shot.'
The previous intra-Çarşı shooting took place in 2007, and stemmed from a byzantine contretemps involving a banner expressing hostility toward a former manager of the team."
- Elif Batuman, "The view from the stands: Life among Istanbul's soccer fanatics", 7 March 2011 The New Yorker
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