Greetings! I am new here, but have been enjoying reading back through the posts a bit.

I am looking for examples of words that once had a particular meaning, but over time have come to have a nearly opposite meaning. 'Awesome' would be one example, or 'decimate.'

However, in particular I could use an example that comes from a profession of some sort, where the word has kept its original meaning within the profession, but has come to mean something else in common usage. I am actually looking for a word that would parallel the current contention between the use of the word 'theory' in scientific terms versus casual use.

Can anyone think of an example? I would like to use the example in a blog post I'm currently working on.

-Lala

I'm not sure of the timeline but how about masterpiece which can mean either a piece produced to demonstrate competence or the greatest piece of work ever produced by an artist?

Hacker still has positive connotations within some subfields of IT, but has come to mean a malicious prankster to most of the rest of the world.

Decimo had more than one meaning in Latin: (1) 'To select by lot every tenth man for punishment, to decimate', (2) 'To cause to pay tithes, to collect tithes from (a person)', (3) 'To select the tenth part as an offering, to pay tithes of (anything)'. In developed in late-Classical times, in a past passive participial, variant form edecumatus to mean 'selected, excellent choice'. (cf. the Vulgate version of Matthew 23:23 Væ vobis scribæ et pharisæi hypocritæ, qui decimatis mentham, et anethum, et cyminum, et reliquistis quæ graviora sunt legis, judicium, et misericordiam, et fidem! hæc oportuit facere, et illa non omittere. 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone'.)

[Corrected typo and cleaned up prose.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

There are several examples in slang. For example 'bad' means (or meant) 'good'. Sometimes, too, what appears to be the the opposite means the same, for instance, 'she's hot' and 'she's cool' are both terms of (male) approval.

sanction, support for an action vs. a penalty for an action

are both senses used in Law?

edit: BTW, there have been two words coined for these: antagonyms (Charles Ellis) and contranyms (Richard Lederer) — which do you prefer?

I like the latter.

Hmmm... sanction sounds yummy. I'll have to look into that a bit more.

Also, antagonyms is more fun to say, but I think contranyms seems more appropriate.

Thank you so much everyone! I appreciate the input.

Lala

Also "trim" and "dust". And "cleave" - but that was originally 2 different words, so it probably doesn't count.

Welcome, dalai lala! Check your PMs.

Since we've been around for 5 years now, we have talked about this before. Words that have opposite meanings are called autoantonyms, and we discussed them here. Then much earlier, we talked about words with opposite meanings here.

Hi Kalleh! Thank you for the welcome, I'm enjoying your boards very much. I will check those links for more great words.

Lala