Which English word when pronounced differently means the opposite?
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Which English word when pronounced differently means the opposite?
A contronym, often referred to as a Janus word or auto-antonym, is a word that evokes contradictory or reverse meanings depending on the context.
What words have changed meanings?
10 English Words That Have Completely Changed Meaning
- Awful. In Old English, ‘awe’ referred to “fear, terror or dread”.
- Cute. A shortening of the word ‘acute’, ‘cute’ originally meant sharp or quick-witted, and was even written with an apostrophe in place of the missing A.
- Fantastic.
- Flirt.
- Literally.
- Meat.
- Myriad.
- Nervous.
What is a word that means the opposite of itself?
Auto-antonym has Greek roots meaning a word that is the opposite of itself. They have variously been called contranyms, contronyms, antilogies, Janus words (after the two-faced Greek mythical figure, from which “January” also derives), and enantiodromes.
Which two words have the opposite meanings?
The term you’re looking for is oxymoron, which comes from a Greek word whose literal translation is ‘pointedly foolish’. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two apparently contradictory terms appear together. Examples include a deafening silence, harmonious discord, an open secret, and the living dead.
What is it called when you put two opposite words together?
What Is an Oxymoron? The defining characteristic of an oxymoron is combining words or phrases that have opposite meanings. Because of this, an oxymoron is often referred to as a contradiction in terms. Oxymorons are not meant to be taken literally.
What words mean new and different?
anew
- afresh.
- another time.
- come again.
- de novo.
- from scratch.
- from the beginning.
- in a different way.
- in a new way.
What words have two opposite meanings?
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two apparently contradictory terms appear together. Examples include a deafening silence, harmonious discord, an open secret, and the living dead. See other Vocabulary Questions.
What is an opposite word called?
antonym Add to list Share. A word that has the exact opposite meaning of another word is its antonym.