Is there a word that means the opposite of what it describes?

Question

For example a water fall with a name of dry falls?

I'm not entirely sure about the question, but your example reminds me of the wryly named "Hill Valley" from Back to the Future. — retron, Jan 26 '17 at 14:22
Your title makes it sound like you're talking about a single word that means the opposite of what it describes. But your example is about two words, one which is the opposite of the other. Which is it that you want? The latter is a 'contradiction in terms' or an 'oxymoron'. The former is 'heterological'. — Mitch, Jan 26 '17 at 14:47
Possible duplicate of What is the name of a word that doesn't mean what it says? — Hank, Jan 26 '17 at 16:16
@Hank That is a dupe of what is itself possibly another dupe. — Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_, Jan 26 '17 at 16:23
Thrift means careful with money but spendthrift means a person who spends improvidently or wastefully — egwene sedai, Jan 26 '17 at 16:49
In Czech, monster can be called interchangeably "stvůra" (lit. creature), or "nestvůra" (lit. non-creature). Clearly, one of them describes the opposite of the other ;-). (sorry for posting this originally as an answer, did not notice I was on english SE) — Edheldil, Jan 26 '17 at 17:12
In addition to what Mitch said: I can’t tell whether you are asking for examples of such words (or phrases?) or names for this category of word. — Scott - Слава Україні, Jan 26 '17 at 20:16
Would "monosyllabic" fall into the category you're asking about? — Ray, Jan 27 '17 at 00:49
I am downvoting this question because though some "answers" have some value, all of them seem to misread the question as asking for a term for a class of words, where it is actually asking for a word from this class. A question so excessively brief and so uniformly misread would seem to be itself at fault. If OP wanted to ask what is answered, it would have required something like "is there a word that means a word that means . . . ?" — Brian Donovan, Dec 02 '20 at 13:45

Spagirl · Answer 1 · 2017-01-26T14:34:03.050

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An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory, but which contain a concealed point.

But be aware that with names of geographical features there may be a reference to a seasonal feature which makes a term appear oxymoronic. Dry Falls could well be a feature on a temporary or intermittent river.

edited Jan 26 '17 at 14:34

answered Jan 26 '17 at 14:22

Spagirl

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you mean like...'military intelligence' or the hotel near to my home here in Southeast Asia calling itself the 'Royal President'. – Peter Point Jan 26 '17 at 14:32

score 12 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

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Consider contronym (also antagonynm) — Rinkworks.com

The word contronym (also antagonym) is used to refer to words that, by some freak of language evolution, are their own antonyms. Both contronym and antagonym are neologisms; however, there is no alternative term that is more established in the English language.

Contronyms are special cases of homographs (two words with the same spelling). Some examples:

consult - ask for advice, give advice
sanction - approve, boycott
seed - add seeds (e.g., "to seed a field"), remove seeds (e.g., "to seed a tomato")

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

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answered Jan 26 '17 at 15:53

Mike

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My favorite is the verb "to table", which means one thing in American English, and the exact opposite in British English, leading to a heated (possibly apocryphal) debate between planners of those two countries during WW2 over whether or not to table an important matter. – neminem Jan 26 '17 at 23:58
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Another is the verb "rent": "to grant the possession and enjoyment of (property, machinery, etc.) in return for the payment of rent from the tenant or lessee", "to take and hold (property, machinery, etc.) in return for the payment of rent to the landlord or owner." – JoL Jan 27 '17 at 02:05
Latin has a couple of those: altus (high; deep), fides (faith; fidelity), and probably more. It's like a single word for a mutual relationship. One can see why the Romans used a single word to describe the property of a cliff, independent of the viewpoint. It's similar to to rent and your example of to consult. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Jan 27 '17 at 10:26
"Cleave" is another word that has synonyms that are antonyms of each other, it means both "adhere to" and "separate" :) – Binary Worrier Jan 27 '17 at 14:44

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, less commonly the Greek-style oxymora):

is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory, but which contain a concealed point.Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors (such as "ground pilot") and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.

And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.

(Wikepedia)

Is there a word that means the opposite of what it describes?

3 Answers3