David Zapatka
Reader, friend, and bridge player, Maria Davis, writes, “I ran across a word that was new for me today: ‘contronym’, a word that can have opposite meanings, like sanction or oversight. I ran across it playing a New York Times free online game called Connections—a fun daily quiz. A quick Google search turned up dozens of contronyms. It might be worth a ‘Word of the Month.’”
Contronym—con·tro·nym, noun, a word having two meanings that contradict one another.
Origin and Etymology—The origin of this word is right here in Arizona. Modeled on nouns such as synonym and antonym, contronym is from the prefix contra-, denoting opposition and the combining form -onym. Jack Herring, ASU professor, coined the noun contronym in the February 1962 issue of Merriam-Webster’s magazine, Word Study.
First Known Use—Feb. 8, 1962
Common contronyms:
“Left” can mean both leave (Two people had left.) and remain (How many people are left?).
“Cleave” can mean to split or to separate. (Bill swung the axe down hard to cleave the log into two even pieces.) “Cleave” can also mean to adhere closely, to stick. (Young beaver pups cleave to their mother in the water until they are strong enough to swim on their own.)
Coming from a career in the cleaning business, one of my favorite contronyms is “dust.” “Dust” can mean to wipe the dust from an object such as a bookshelf. (Every Saturday, he would dust the knick-knacks on the bookshelves to keep them clean.) “Dust” can also mean to sprinkle with a powder. (The baker liked to dust their pumpkin bread with just a sprinkle of cinnamon.)
“Overlook” can mean to fail to notice, perceive or consider. (I hadn’t finished the last two homework questions but I hoped my teacher would overlook it and give me an “A” anyway.) “Overlook” can also mean to look after, oversee or supervise. (The manager was required to personally overlook the transfer of valuable materials every evening.)
“Sanction” can mean to authorize, approve or allow. (We don’t sanction video games in our home because we believe they are too violent.) “Sanction” can also mean to penalize. (The school said they were going to sanction the students for arriving late to class.)
Contronym used on the web:
Sometimes, just to heighten the confusion, the same word ends up with contradictory meanings. This kind of word is called a contronym. Sanction, for instance, can either signify permission to do something or a measure forbidding it to be done. Cleave can mean cut in half or stick together. A sanguine person is either hotheaded and bloodthirsty or calm and cheerful. Something that is fast is either stuck firmly or moving quickly—Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue, 1990
What are some of your favorite contronyms? Please submit your experiences or any word you may like to share along with your insights and comments to dzapatka@wbhsi.net.