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For example:

  • "transparent" can mean both "obvious" and "hidden"

  • "aught" can mean both "all" and "nothing"

Is there a term for a word which has multiple definitions that are antonyms?

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  • "Transparent" does not mean both "obvious" and "hidden". – Kris May 19 '14 at 05:20
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    It's not a duplicate. It's only a related Q. – Kris May 19 '14 at 05:21
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    @Kris 1) His intentions were transparent. 2) X-rays are transparent to the naked eye. –  May 19 '14 at 05:27
  • In both your examples, transparent still means the same. See a good dictionary. Also, related previous question(s) here on ELU. – Kris May 19 '14 at 05:32
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    @Kris if something is transparent, it's both easy to see and invisible. Included in multiple examples, here's just one: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym –  May 19 '14 at 05:37
  • Think again. Transparent always means one can 'see through'. It's not "both easy to see and invisible," including in all the examples you have cited or can find anywhere. Do not forget the "through". – Kris May 19 '14 at 05:40
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    @Kris 'Transparent' means you can see through the thing in question. Where the confusion arises about 'easy to see' and 'invisibility' concerns its metaphorical use. It has become common to say that a certain procedure is 'transparent', which could mean that it improves clarity, but I suppose to some people it could mean that it lacks clarity. Anyway the principal meaning of 'tranparent' is that you can see through it. – WS2 May 19 '14 at 06:42
  • @WS2 Why are we racking our brains over a no-brainer here? The OP has not even checked a dictionary, according to the question. – Kris May 19 '14 at 13:40
  • 'cleave' is my favourite example – Strawberry Aug 06 '18 at 15:47

3 Answers3

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Great question. These wacky words are called "contronyms." As defined by Oxford dictionaries,

"A word with two opposite meanings, e.g., sanction (which can mean both ‘a penalty for disobeying a law’ and ‘official permission or approval for an action’)."

AndyT
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njboot
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    I have also read the term "auto-antonym" here – user 85795 May 19 '14 at 05:28
  • @skullpatrol yes, "auto-autonym" is definitely a synonym for "contronym" :) – njboot May 19 '14 at 05:30
  • That link squire, does not take you to the OED. It goes to something called 'Oxford Dictionaries'. I don't know what association the latter has with the OED. Perhaps there is a town in Peru called Oxford where they produce these things! With cutlery I think the Japanese renamed a village 'Sheffield' so they could sell 'Sheffield Silverware'. But never buy it unless it says 'Made in Sheffield, England'. 'Contronym' is NOT in the OED. – WS2 May 19 '14 at 14:21
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They are often referred to as Janus words, after the Roman god Janus, whom Wikipedia describes as "the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby of gates, doors, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past".

Erik Kowal
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Enantiodrome: For the Jungian principle of equilibrium... An auto antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), or contranym (originally spelled contronym), is a word with a homograph (a word of the same spelling)-Wikipedia

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