Difference between revisions 5314132 and 5408864 on simplewiki

A '''contronym''' is a word with two meanings. These two meanings are the opposites of each other.

;Examples:

*bolt: secure, run away
:''He bolted the door'', ''When he got scared, he bolted''
*cleave - split, adhere
:''The bow of the boat cleaved the water cleanly'',''He cleaved to his principles in spite of persecution''
(contracted; show full)
*moot - open to debate, settled beyond debate
:''The car's value is moot'', ''Your dating that boy is moot''
*off - off, on
:''He turned the lights off'', ''When the window broke, the alarm went off''
*rent - buy use of, sell use of
:''He rented a room to make extra money'', ''She was looking for a house to rent''

*table - to place on the agenda for consideration, to remove from consideration
:''She plans to table the motion at the next meeting'', ''The issue has been tabled indefinitely''
*transparent - invisible, obvious
:''The glass was transparent'', ''His motives were transparent''
*sanction - bless, punish
:''The priest sanctioned the marriage'', ''The US government sanctioned Cuba''
*seed - to plant seeds, to remove seeds
:''The children seeded the ground with pumpkin seeds'', ''They seeded the watermelon before they served it''
*variety - one type, many types
:''Granny Smith is a variety of apple'', ''The store sells a variety of produce''
*virago - loud overbearing woman, woman of stature and strength
:''My mother-in-law is such a virago'', ''My mother is such a virago''
*weather - to wear away, to withstand
:''his skin was weathered'', ''the boat weathered the storm well''


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[[Category:Words]]