I asked about this in the WHY?? thread, but it fell on deaf ears (or was it blind eyes?)

The fact that cleave has opposite meanings, got me wondering if there were other words with this characteristic. The only example I could come up with was hew.

The fact that hew and cleave are also synonyms (and antonyms) strikes me as more than extraordinary coincidence.

In any case, are there other words with this contradictory behavior?

DJ

Hi - There are a great many words with this contradictory behavior, and the great Richard Lederer has thoughtfully compiled a list, as well as giving this type of word a name: antagonym.  There’s a link to the page from the Gameroom, or here: Antagonyms (assuming that I’ve correctly followed the instructions, and that the computer gods smile upon me).

Katy, I double-checked on this site, and found that ‘unravel’ is mentioned in the definition of ‘ravel,’ and that they both mean ‘to disentangle.’  So you may be able to return some disdain toward those who castigated you ... in the nicest possible way, of course  ;D

KML

Thanks KML. More examples than I needed or expected.

Katy

if to ravel is to take apart, then to unravel is the same as to knit?

As in, "It’s gonna be a cold winter, if ya got nothin else to do unravel yourself a sweater."

DJ

[quote author=KML link=board=omni;num=1052487985;start=0#2 date=05/09/03 at 11:46:06]Antagonyms (assuming that I’ve correctly followed the instructions, and that the computer gods smile upon me).

WOW! You did great! Html tags on your fourth post! http://www.jms101.btinternet.co.uk/full_sets/gold/circular_bold_std/thumbsup.gif

Now, I couldn’t find the word antagónimo in google. Wonder if they actually exist in Spanish. Can anyone think of one?

[quote author=KatyBr link=board=omni;num=1052487985;start=0#7 date=06/08/03 at 00:26:19]NOW, to do the exact opposite, words that are seemingly the same :how about slim chance and fat chance?  they mean the same thing, like ‘hot’ and ‘cool’.

Katy
who likes reviving dead threads

You’ve got three chances, Katy:  slim, fat, and none . . .

A couple of days ago, I gave our 21-year-old intern the task of giving me a list of young people’s synonyms for ‘cool’. On the list were:

awesome
wicked
bitchin’
kickin’
pimp
money
bling

Who’d have thunk it? The dictionary (that thing that is obsolete before it prints) would define at least three of those words as having negative connotations. Can ‘hot’ be ‘cool’? If ‘pimp’ can be ‘awesome’, then I guess so.

- PW

Hm. I’ve usually heard it as pimpin’, not just ‘pimp’. Not for polite company, either way.

And speaking of polite company, that was NOT originally pregnant dogin’, for any who are not familiar with our delightful Agoran language filter.

~Silver

I’ve usually heard it as pimpin’, not just ‘pimp’.

Hm. I’ll arrange for the erring intern to be suitable thrashed. Thanks for the additional info.

- PW

Auto-antonyms? Antagonyms? I thought they were called contronyms - who’s right?

Has this become a discussion about ebonics?

In case any of you missed my question[s], :

Auto-antonyms? Antagonyms? I thought they were called contronyms - who’s right?

Palaeosophist,

I don’t know who is right.  I think all of these words are just made up out of whole cloth, and we won’t know if they are words for at least 10 years when they update the dictionaries for English.

I’ll let you know! In the meantime, pick your favorite.

http://thinks.com/words/autoantonyms.htm

http://www.mtech.edu/wimmonen/Departments/Pre-Professional Health/Vocabulary/Word-a-Day 2002/contronym.htm

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/antagonym.html

I like autoantonym myself!

Sitran

They did update the dictionaries…Merriam-Webster’s latest has 10,000 new words. I wonder if contronym is in there…

Yes, I heard that on the radio: ‘lazic’ made it!

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=22&art_id=vn20030702101553778C643569&set_id=1

‘Contronym’ wasn’t in their online dictionary! Neither was ‘autoantonym’ nor ‘antagonym’.

I couldn’t access the unabridged dictionary though!

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

Sitran

I admit I made up the term autoantonym. At the time I was not aware of another term to use.

If I had it to do over again, perhaps I would have used a different subject, but who knows? My ignorance on the subject is banished forever.

DJ

Here’s where I got contronym from:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/antagonym.html.

The page first refers to them as antagonyms, but I believe it says below under ‘Was it an oversight?’ that ‘auto-antonyms, or antagonyms, or whatever are actually called contronyms.