The Obligatory
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007
One of My New Favorite Words
Contronym.
The nerds at Digg and mental_floss pointed out a type of word I never knew existed - the contronym.
It's a word that, through an odd evolution of the English language, is its own antonym. Stuff like "apology," which means both an admission of guilt and a formal defense for your actions; and "weather," which can mean both withstanding something and the act of getting worn down by something.
There's a long list of examples here. Get ready to get your mind blown.
The nerds at Digg and mental_floss pointed out a type of word I never knew existed - the contronym.
It's a word that, through an odd evolution of the English language, is its own antonym. Stuff like "apology," which means both an admission of guilt and a formal defense for your actions; and "weather," which can mean both withstanding something and the act of getting worn down by something.
There's a long list of examples here. Get ready to get your mind blown.
that one guy you know, 7:43 AM
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1 Comments:
did you see retronym in NYT while back?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07wwln_safire.t.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07wwln_safire.t.html
