Questions tagged [auto-antonyms]

Questions relating to words which are sometimes their own antonyms.

A good example of a question about auto-antonyms is:

How did “strike” get its baseball meaning?

In this question, the auto-antonym in question is strike, which in baseball can mean either hitting or missing the ball.

Other names for auto-antonyms are: auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), contranym (originally spelled contronym), antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god), enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, and addad.

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Why is the verb "dust" used in opposite forms?

When I dust my dresser, I am removing something from the dresser. When I dust a cake, I am adding something to the cake. How did this happen? I've heard of words taking different meanings during the transition between British English and American…
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