autoantonym

See also: auto-antonym

English

Examples
  • a bit: "a little" versus (in ironic or polite use, by meiosis) "a lot"
  • bad: "not good" or (in certain slang contexts) "good"
  • dust: "to remove dust from" or "to spray or cover something with fine powder"
  • awful: "terrible" or "magnificent"

Etymology

From auto- +‎ antonym. Coined or reported as autantonym by Joseph T. Shipley in 1960.[1]

Noun

autoantonym (plural autoantonyms)

  1. (rare) A word that has two opposing meanings.
    Alternative forms: auto-antonym, autantonym
    Synonyms: contronym, contranym
    Hypernyms: antonym < word < term < seme
    Near-synonym: enantioseme
  • autoantonymy

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ Shipley, Joseph T. Playing with Words. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 1960, p. 74
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