www.alphadictionary.com

PS - speaking of picky, contranym or contronym? One of you even did it both ways! Are they homanyms?

I'm going to be difficult and go with auto-antonym.

-gailr

Debate is still raging over the contras?

Say, nice link*. I like antagonym outta that list, though Janus word is interesting.

* except for spelling: Hindi kal /kʌl/ may mean either yesterday or tomorrow (diambiguated by the verb in the senetense).
I fixed it

Dr. G -

See Sluggo's Jan 11 P.S. Your original piece said "contronym", attributing this coinage to Richard Lederer. I in raising my question inadvertently misspelled your word, making it "contranym". You in responding then accepted my misspelling. Which is it?

Lederer has the right, I guess, to call it what he chooses; but "contranym" seems more likely to me: My dictionary suggests there is a bona fide Latin prefix "contra-" (as in "contradiction", etc.), whereas there's only the word "controvert" which involves no prefix. On the other hand, I have no Latin and am only guessing. The "homo-" in "homonym" is a Greek prefix; so would "contro-" also be a Greek prefix of which I'm unaware?

Don

Seems to be my time for typos. (I don't really need to know the frequency. I never "touch that dial". It's the only station for me.) Must come from being wild and crazy.

I also greatly appreciated gailr's Wikipedia on "auto-antonym".

I don't, however, want to lose track of my original question - whether we've got (a) one word with two meanings, or (b) two words, each with its own single meaning. The Wikipedia article smudges that issue, saying it both ways. The smudge seems accidental, but I would wonder whether the article's author has some reason for going one way or the other.

Dr. Goodword in response to my original question claimed that the first alternative is correct; and - as I said - that makes sense to me. (How one answers this question of mine could have implications for theories of language.)

Don

Yes, I'm just plain "Bob" up North though down South I'm "Robert Earl" (named for a paternal and a maturnal uncles). I love traveling back and forth between the two cultures.

Yes, contranyms are single polysemous words, specifically containing contradictory or contrary meanings. Homonyms like (a) bear and (to) bear are discrete accidentally orthographically identical words.

Yes, contranyms are single polysemous words, specifically containing contradictory or contrary meanings. Homonyms like (a) bear and (to) bear are discrete accidentally orthographically identical words.

I hereby sanction Robert Earl's clarification.

-Tim

And we all noticed how the good Doctor slyly sidestepped the contro/contraversy. I figure it should depend on whether the words in question are masculine or feminine, but nooooo... we had to do away with genders while all the other lingos snicker!

So, sluggo, you're saying that Dr. Goodword is remaining neutral?
Do you sanction this postion?
-gailr

So, sluggo, you're saying that Dr. Goodword is remaining neutral?
Do you sanction this postion?
-gailr

I'm in no position to sanction his position as it was he who positioned 'sanction'.

Been meaning to ask, Gailr, what's the bird's eye lowdown on this caper of bolding names? It seems I've seen this in the very old old posts from like, y'know like months ago.

So, are we sanctioning all this or sanctioning all this?