Contronyms, or Janus words, are those that have two, opposite meanings. "Cleave" means to split into halves, or stick two halves together.
I've always thought that "warm" was a Janus word. You can give someone a warm greeting or, in what may be a mostly British usage, have a warm--heated, angry--debate.
How about troll? A troll may sit for hours under his bridge, and a "patent troll" buys up many patents and sits on them, waiting to sue someone who may have (accidentally) infringed a patent. On the other hand, "troll" is the noun form of the verb "troll," which usually means to move around hunting, for fish or for a date.
And there's "wicked." You can be a wicked witch or, if you're from Boston, wicked good at doing something. It's not just in Boston, either--it's in Webster's Third.
I've always thought that "warm" was a Janus word. You can give someone a warm greeting or, in what may be a mostly British usage, have a warm--heated, angry--debate.
How about troll? A troll may sit for hours under his bridge, and a "patent troll" buys up many patents and sits on them, waiting to sue someone who may have (accidentally) infringed a patent. On the other hand, "troll" is the noun form of the verb "troll," which usually means to move around hunting, for fish or for a date.
And there's "wicked." You can be a wicked witch or, if you're from Boston, wicked good at doing something. It's not just in Boston, either--it's in Webster's Third.
How can you forget the Upstate New York use of wicked? "That's so wicked!"
ReplyDelete