Auto-antonym

“Enantiodrome” redirects here. For the Jungian principle which happen to have the same form. For instance cleave
of equilibrium, see Enantiodromia. “separate” is from Old English clēofan, while cleave “ad-
An auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), here” is from Old English clifian, which was pronounced
differently. This is related to false friends, but false
friends do not necessarily contradict.
Other contronyms are a form of polysemy, but where
a single word acquires different and ultimately opposite
senses. For instance quite, which meant “clear” or “free”
in Middle English, can mean “slightly” (quite nice) or
“completely” (quite beautiful). Other examples include
sanction — “permit” or "penalize"; bolt (originally from
crossbows) — “leave quickly” or “fix"; fast — “moving
rapidly” or “unmoving”. Many English examples result
from nouns being verbed into distinct senses “add <noun>
to” and “remove <noun> from"; e.g. dust, seed, stone.
Some contronyms result from differences in national
varieties of English. For example, to table a bill means
“to put it up for debate” in British English, while it means
“to remove it from debate” in American English (where
British English would have “shelve”).
Often, one sense is more obscure or archaic, increasing
the danger of misinterpretation when it does occur; for
instance, the King James Bible often uses “let” in the
sense of “forbid”, a meaning which is now obsolete, ex-
cept in the legal phrase “without let or hindrance” and
in ball games such as tennis, squash, table tennis, and
racquetball.
In English, “inflammable” means “combustible” but can be taken
An apocryphal story relates how Charles II (or sometimes
to mean “non-flammable”,[1] so English safety labels typically use
Queen Anne) described St Paul’s Cathedral (using con-
“flammable”.
temporaneous English) as “awful, pompous, and artifi-
or contronym (also spelled contranym), is a word with cial,” with the meaning (rendered in modern English) [5]
of
a homograph (another word of the same spelling) which “awe-inspiring, majestic, and ingeniously designed.”
is also an antonym (a word with the opposite mean- In addition, various neologisms or other such words con-
ing). An auto-antonym is alternatively called an an- tain simultaneous opposing meanings in the same con-
tagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god), enantio- text, rather than alternative meanings depending on con-
drome, self-antonym, antilogy, or addad (Arabic, sin- text (e.g. coopetition).
gular didd).[2][3] It is a word with multiple meanings, one
of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other mean-
ings. This phenomenon is called enantiosemy,[4] enan- 2 In other languages
tionymy or antilogy.
Auto-antonyms also exist in other languages. For exam-
ple, in Latin sacer has the double meaning “sacred, holy”
1 Origins and “accursed, infamous”, Spanish huésped may mean ei-
ther “host” or “guest"; the same is true for the Italian and
The terms “autantonym” and “contronym” were coined French cognates, ospite and hôte respectively (all three
by Joseph T. Shipley in 1960 and Jack Herring in 1962, deriving from the Latin hospes). The Romanian verb a
respectively. Some pairs of contronyms are true ho- închiria means “to rent” as well as “to let”. Hindi: कल
mographs, i.e., distinct words with different etymology and Urdu: ˆD (kal [kəl]) may mean either “yesterday” or

1
2 3 EXAMPLES
“tomorrow” (disambiguated by the verb in the sentence).
The Swahili verb kutoa means both “to remove” and “to
add”.In his Limited Views: Eassays on Ideas and Letters,
Qian Zhongshu gave some examples of Chinese Auto-
antonym, like " " both meaning “to harass” and “to gov-
ern”, " " both meaning “to abolish” and “to establish” and
" " meaning “to cease”,"finish” and “cure”. Qian also in-
dicated that " " both meaning “leather” and “to remove,
to change”. Leather is difficult to change, so Chinese
character " " is to name change itself after what is diffi-
cult to change( “ ” , “ ”).He named this kind
of phenomenon “reverse symbolism"( ).
Sometimes an apparent opposition of senses comes from
presuming the point of view of a different language. In
Hawaiian, for example, aloha is translated both as “hello”
and as “goodbye”, but the essential meaning of the word
is “love”, making it appropriate as both greeting and
farewell. The meaning is in fact the same; it is only the oc-
casion that is different. The Italian greeting ciao is trans-
lated as “hello” or “goodbye” depending on the context;
however the original meaning was “(I'm your) slave” and
so it’s appropriate as both greeting and farewell. Latin
altus can be translated “high” or “deep” in English, but
in Latin had the single meaning “large in the vertical
dimension”. The difference in English between “high”
and “deep” is determined by the speaker’s awareness of
their relationship to some perceived norm. A mountain is
“high” because it is well above sea level, and the ocean is
“deep” because it plunges well below it. Both, however,
were altus in Latin.
This concept is superficially similar to a few examples
in Italian, such as describing accumulated snow as be-
ing “high”, alta, rather than “deep”, but this is because it
is considered to be heaped above the reference level of
the ground, rather than a throwback to Latin. The ad-
jective, profondo is used instead to describe the idea of
depth below a given reference level, so the sea is pro-
fondo, along with the vast majority of examples in which
“deep” would be used in English. In Italian, alto mare
means not “deep sea” but “high sea”, with the same mean-
ing as in English of “open water beyond territorial limits”.
The tide, marea, also follows the same pattern as English,
being either “high” or “low”, depending on whether it is
above or below the mean. However, Italian, French and
Spanish all use their own equivalents of “high” to describe
cooking pots, frying pans and saucepans which in English
would be called “deep”. In English, “tall”, as a synonym
of “high”, would only be used to describe a pot when
its height is considerably greater than its diameter, and
drinking glasses with such proportions are also referred
to as “tall” rather than “deep”.
3 Examples
• “Abysmal” 1: immensely great: Profound , 2: im-
mensely low or wretched
• “Alight” can mean to get on, or get off
• “Apropos” can mean with very appropriate or unre-
lated (as an adverb)
• “Back” can mean 'in the past' (as in, to go back in
time) or it can mean 'further into the future' (as in,
to push a date back)
• “Buckle” can mean 'to fasten or secure' or it can
mean 'collapse under weight'.
• “Bitch” can mean 'a woman/person who is weak or
submissive' or it can mean 'a woman is strong, pow-
erful, mean or conniving'.
• “Canned” can mean “prepared” ('a canned re-
sponse') or “discarded” ('thrown in the trashcan').
• “Certifiable” can mean “genuine/authentic” or “in-
sane” (absurd).
• “Cleave” can mean “to cling” or “to split apart.”
• “Clip” can mean “attach” or “cut off”
• “Custom” can mean “standard” (shorthand for cus-
tomary) or “tailored.”
• “Dust” can mean to remove dust (cleaning a house)
or to add dust (e.g. to dust a cake with powdered
sugar).
• “Episodic” can mean “at irregular intervals” or “at
regular intervals”.
• “Facile” from the French “easy”, can imply compe-
tence (“a facile communicator” finds communica-
tion easy and therefore is good at it) or incompetence
(“advancing a facile argument” - easy and hence su-
perficial).
• “Fast” as an adverb can mean “without moving; fixed
in place”, as in “holding fast” (also as in “steadfast”),
or it can mean “moving quickly.”
• "French spacing" can mean either less or more space
after the end of a sentence.
• “Help” can mean “to assist”, or in the phrase “can't
help (doing / but do)" it means “prevent (myself
from).”
• “Hew” can mean “to chop” or (in North America)
“to adhere”.
• “Impregnable” can mean “invulnerable” and also
(vulnerable) to impregnation.
• “Inflammable” technically means “capable of burn-
ing” but is commonly misunderstood to mean
“unburnable”.[1]
• “Last” can mean “previous” or “final.”

• “Left” can mean “remaining” or “departed.”
• “Let” can mean “allow” or “prevent” (Hamlet says.
“I'll make a ghost of him that lets me.”)
• “Liegeman” can mean a feudal superior, or inferior
• “Liberal” generally means progressive, or free think-
ing, but it can also refer to 'economic liberal'
thought, which is often associated with conservative
politics.
• “Literally” can mean “exactly true” and also “em-
phasised, but not actually true” (colloquial).
• “Nonplussed” can mean “baffled” or “perplexed”,
but in North America can also mean “not discon-
certed” or “unperturbed”.
• “Off” can mean “to activate” / “to begin to make a
noise” (e.g. “The alarm went off”) or “to deactivate”
/ “to stop operating” (e.g. “The alarm turned off by
itself”).
• “Old” can refer to something in its past state or its A literary example in the form of an extended prose re-
later state.
• “Oversight” (uncountable) means “supervision”, “an
oversight” (countable) means “not noticing some-
thing”, similarly “overlook” can mean to miss, or to
have a view from above.
• “Pass on” can mean “reject from” or “continue
through a process” (e.g. “Let’s pass on this candi-
date”).
• A “peer” is an equal, but is also short for "peer of
the realm" a very high-ranking person
• “Peruse” can mean “to read thoroughly” and “to
skim over”
• “Quite” can mean “absolutely” (e.g. “I'm quite al-
right, thank you”) or merely “to an extent” (e.g. “It’s
quite cold outside”).
• “Refrain” can mean either non-action or the repeti-
tion of an action (e.g. in musical notation).
• “To rent” can mean “to borrow from” or “to lend to”
(similarly “borrow” is a colloquialism for “lend” and
vice versa).
• “To replace” can mean “to place back where it was”
or “substitute with something else.”
• “Rather” can mean anything from “to a minor de-
gree” to “to a significant extent”.
• “Resigned” can mean “to have signed again” or “to
have quit”. The former is sometimes hyphenated as
“re-signed” for clarity.
• “Restive” can mean “having difficulty staying still”
(“restless”) or “reluctant to move.”
3
• “To sanction” can mean “to permit” or “to punish.”
• “To screen” can mean “to show” or “to conceal.”
• “To seed” can mean “to place seeds” or “to remove
seeds” - similarly “stoned fruit” and “destoned fruit”
are the same thing.
• “To table” can mean “to present something for dis-
cussion” as well as “to decide not to discuss some-
thing until a later time.”
• “To trim” can mean “to add edging” or “to cut away
at the edges or ends.”
• “To weather” can mean “to withstand the elements”
/ “to hold fast”, or it can mean “to wear away due to
the elements” / “to decay or wear away.”
• “Unqualified” can mean “unconditional/perfect”
(“unqualified success”) or “unfit” (“unqualified for
the job”)
flection is Samuel Beckett's Stirrings Still'.'
4 See also
• -onym
• oxymoron
• Īhām
5 References
[1] Strunk and White (1979). The Elements of Style. New
York: MacMillan. p. 47.
[2] "'Addad' : a study of homo-polysemous opposites in Ara-
bic”. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
[3] Gall, Nick. “Antagonyms”. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
[4] Liberman, Anatoly (25 September 2013). “Etymology
gleanings for September 2013”. Oxford Etymologist. Ox-
ford University Press. Retrieved 25 September 2013. The
coexistence of two opposite meanings in a word is called
enantiosemy, and the examples are rather numerous.
[5] O’Toole, Garson (31 October 2012). “St Paul’s Cathedral
Is Amusing, Awful, and Artificial”. Quote Investigator.
Retrieved 22 January 2015.
6 Further reading
• Sheidlower, Jesse (1 November 2005). “The Word
We Love To Hate”. Slate.
4 7 EXTERNAL LINKS

• Leithauser, Brad (14 October 2013). “Unusable

Words”. The New Yorker.
• Schulz, Kathryn (7 April 2015). What Part of “No,
Totally” Don't You Understand?. The New Yorker.

7 External links
• Antagonyms
• List of autoantonyms at fun-with-words.com

• Fun with Words at rinkworks.com

 5

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1 Text
• Auto-antonym Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym?oldid=706058046 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Rmhermen, Toby
Bartels, Ortolan88, Dieter Simon, Michael Hardy, Suisui, Uyanga, Nickg, Jogloran, Furrykef, Dogface, Spikey, AnonMoos, Johnleemk,
Phil Boswell, SchmuckyTheCat, Meelar, Adam78, Nagelfar, Mshonle~enwiki, Subsolar, Pteron, Finn-Zoltan, Wleman, Vvolkman, Neu-
trality, Sfeldman, Brianhe, Rich Farmbrough, Florian Blaschke, Topynate, Jnestorius, Mr. Billion, Kwamikagami, Shanes, Pablo X, Scen-
toni, Deryck Chan, Grutness, Anthony Appleyard, Carbon Caryatid, Improv, Titanium Dragon, BanyanTree, Johnwcowan, Chris Weimer,
BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Quiddity, Quuxplusone, Benlisquare, YurikBot, Wavelength, ThunderPeel2001, RussBot, Philopedia, WouterBolster-
lee, Adamvellender, CaliforniaAliBaba, Dan337, Nathan000000, Sycthos, Rockrunnercard, JulianL, Brossow, Eclecticerudite, Bluebot,
Thumperward, Nbarth, Namangwari, XSG, Jahiegel, Samzy, Jlarson, Hgilbert, Kalathalan, Marcus Brute, Spiritia, JackLumber, Aspirex,
Hvn0413, Makyen, Androl, Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, InedibleHulk, Keahapana, Twas Now, LStenseth, Theoh, Meconium, Thijs!bot, Djbwiki,
LachlanA, Mdotley, Hopiakuta, WWB, Thylacinus cynocephalus, Ed416, Tberla, JaGa, Kateshortforbob, PStrait, J.delanoy, Filll, DrKay,
Laurusnobilis, BBrucker2, Skier Dude, DorganBot, Random Passer-by, Deor, Cpt ricard, Dave Andrew, PlaysInPeoria, Malick78, Cnilep,
Munci, Revent, Flyer22 Reborn, DGGenuine, Fratrep, Dabomb87, A Georgian, Martarius, Jbening, Ariadacapo, Harsalan, Michaplot,
Kansoku, Arjayay, Dylanfromthenorth, Will-B, Koro Neil, BriefError, Addbot, Yobot, Rsquire3, Amirobot, AnomieBOT, Amit6, Snor-
laxMonster, LilHelpa, FrescoBot, Lukelisi, Ventouomo, Fat&Happy, Vkil, Thrissel, TrippyTaka, WreckLoose, Evacarlstrom, EmausBot,
GoingBatty, ZéroBot, Hodgdon’s secret garden, Spicemix, ClueBot NG, Murray Smith, Reify-tech, Calidum, BG19bot, Dr.shawntucker,
Ratweek, Mogism, AleksanderVatov, Dreamingiris, 069952497a, EyeTruth, I am One of Many, Rwjh, AmaryllisGardener, Pegathais-
myname, EmmaHansenFD, Lajos vH, RoflCopter404, DarnVisages, Theskeedaddy, Lakritzbrezel, Avi.Naiman, Nibiko, Brianbleakley,
Manywraths, GoodGrief81, Qzd and Anonymous: 151

8.2 Images
• File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)
• File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the file, specifically: “Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).”
• File:Flammablecabinet.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Flammablecabinet.jpg License: CC0 Contributors:
took a photo of a chemical locker
Original artist:
Vkil
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
• File:Wiktionary-logo-en.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Wiktionary-logo-en.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: Vector version of Image:Wiktionary-logo-en.png. Original artist: Vectorized by Fvasconcellos (talk · contribs),
based on original logo tossed together by Brion Vibber

8.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0