Revision 6203732 of "Contronym" on simplewiki

{{RfD|What we have here is a pure dictionary definition,of a word, with some examples. I think it would be preferable to move this to wiktionary, and to delete it here. I think it is unlikely we can provide encyclopedic content for this entry. }}
A '''contronym''' is a word with two meanings. These two meanings are the opposites of each other. The meaning is understood by its [[context (language)|context]] in the [[sentence]].

;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''
*clip:  fasten, detach
:''He clipped the pin to his shirt'', ''She used scissors to clip her hair''
*constrained - forced into a certain path or action, prohibited from certain paths or actions
: ''To please my spouse, I am constrained to hire my brother-in-law'', ''To avoid nepotism, I am constrained to hire my brother-in-law''
*consult: seek information, refer information to
:''They consulted us about best practices," "They consulted us with best practices"
*dust - remove particles, lay down particles
:''He dusted the picture frames'', ''She dusted the cookies with powdered sugar''
*execute - to start or begin, to kill or finish
:''We will execute our plan at midnight'', ''The traitor was executed at dawn''
*fast - quick, unmoving
:''He ran very fast'', ''He pulled on the rope, but it held fast''
*fireman - makes fires, extinguishes fires.
:''The steam locomotive's fireman shoveled coal into the firebox'', ''The fireman used a hose to spray water to put out the fire.''
*fix - restore, castrate
:''He fixed the broken table'', ''They had their puppy fixed''
*left - remaining, departed from
:''After taking an apple, there were two left'', ''He opened the door and left''
* literally - without exaggeration, with exaggeration  ''The festival was literally attended by hundreds of people, My brother's surprise party was literally attended by hundreds of people''
*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''
*stem - to provide with a stem, to remove the stem of
:''The glasses are being stemmed'', ''He stemmed the pears''
*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''

== Other websites ==
* [https://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/ 75 Contronyms] - one of the largest lists online


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[[Category:Words]]