Contronym - Definition and Overview

A contronym, sometimes spelled contranym (occasionally antagonym or autoantonym), is a word that is its own opposite. For example, the word "fast" can mean "moving quickly" as in "what a fast runner," or it can mean "unable to move" as in "stuck fast." It is a special kind of an antonym, where the two words are homonyms or homophones.

There are two ways a word becomes a contronym:

1. Two different words have the same spelling, as with cleave
2. The word changes meaning to the contrary, but the original meaning stays alive, as with awful

List of contronyms

• Act — "an act of courage" versus "the courage was an act"
• Awful — "extremely unpleasant, ugly" versus "awe-inspiring"
• Bolt — "leave quickly" versus "fixed in place, as in bolted to the floor"
• Cleave — "to stick to, adhere" versus "to split"
• Decadent — "in a state of decay or disrepair" versus "immaculate or gluttonous (due to moral decay)"
• Fast — "moving rapidly" versus "unmoving, as in stuck fast"
• Ravel — can be a synonym or an antonym of "unravel"
• Inflammable — "flammable" versus "not flammable"
• Sanction — "to permit, allow" versus "to punish, impose a penalty on"

See also

• -onym
• antonym

External link:

• Antagonyms (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/antagonym.html)
• List of autoantonyms (http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_autoantonyms.html)