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A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". This feature is also called enantiosemy, [1] [2] enantionymy (enantio-means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic.
The term antonym (and the related antonymy) is commonly taken to be synonymous with opposite, but antonym also has other more restricted meanings. Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold).
Contrary may refer to: Contrary (comics), a character from Malibu Comics' Ultraverse; Contrary (logic), the relationship between two propositions when they cannot both be true; Contrary Magazine, a literary journal founded at the University of Chicago; Contrary motion, in music theory; Contrary (social role), in certain Amerindian cultures
Contrary behavior means deliberately doing the opposite of what others routinely or conventionally do. Traditionally, it is usually accompanied by inverse speech, in which one says the opposite of what one actually means. For example, "no!" expresses "yes!" And "hello" means "goodbye".
An unpaired word is one that, according to the usual rules of the language, would appear to have a related word but does not. [1] Such words usually have a prefix or suffix that would imply that there is an antonym, with the prefix or suffix being absent or opposite.
In linguistics, converses or relational antonyms are pairs of words that refer to a relationship from opposite points of view, such as parent/child or borrow/lend. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The relationship between such words is called a converse relation . [ 2 ]
Antithesis (pl.: antitheses; Greek for "setting opposite", from ἀντι-"against" and θέσις "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.
Auto-antonym, a word with multiple meanings of which one is the reverse of another; Oxymoron, a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction; Paradox, a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation