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A paltry dozen? I wager this august body can double that with ease!

Herewith, an interesting piece on auto-antonyms:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/art...-their-own-opposites


RJA
 
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literally, really

original "unchanged" and "new"

clip "to fasten" and "to cut"

show originally meant "to look at"

learn and borrow mean "teach" and "lend" in some dialects

black is thought to come from PIE *bhel- meaning "to shine, flash, burn; shining white and various bright colours"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,
 
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Wikipedia has an article on contranyms with (at a quick count) 29 examples.

They've been mentioned fairly often here in the past - this search will show the threads.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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Is a contradance just two lines facing one another and doing nothing?


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
 
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A contradance is a South American rebel group party.
 
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So often I come across them, but of course when put on the spot I can't remember them!
 
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