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Words that have two meanings that are opposites: let's bash these TTTs

fucking "deceptively" "the question was de...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
Oversight
Fragrant glassy associate home
  02/15/22
ooh good one! "this oversight was a result of a seri...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaini...
Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend
  02/15/22
fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in...
Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend
  02/15/22
credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your inter...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
need julia here
startling sooty mad-dog skullcap
  02/15/22
inflammable
Purple well-lubricated dilemma
  02/15/22
(dr. nick)
spruce multi-colored cuckoldry
  02/15/22
well the issue with that one is that the two words sound lik...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
cleave
Contagious Gunner
  02/15/22
titc cleave
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
that one was my contribution the last time we did this threa...
Excitant filthpig
  02/16/22
so far oversight is the only one
glittery orchestra pit dopamine
  02/15/22
Sanction
Lime racy reading party
  02/15/22
...
Out-of-control Azure Death Wish Trailer Park
  02/15/22
another good one!
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
faggot
Brilliant wild pistol foreskin
  02/15/22
🤔🤔🤔
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
Overlook
Lime racy reading party
  02/15/22
cr similar to oversight
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists
Lime racy reading party
  02/15/22
tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
...
Lime racy reading party
  02/16/22
...
Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend
  02/15/22
science
hot son of senegal
  02/15/22
lol, fair
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
cavalier
rusted kitchen
  02/15/22
rly? what are the two meanings?
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
moot
Exciting Field
  02/15/22
whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" mea...
Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman
  02/15/22
...
oomox
  04/07/26


Poast new message in this thread



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:16 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

fucking "deceptively"

"the question was deceptively simple" can mean that it seems simple but isn't, OR that it doesn't seem simple but it is

WHYYY

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974432)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:17 PM
Author: Fragrant glassy associate home

Oversight

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974433)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

ooh good one!

"this oversight was a result of a serious lack of oversight"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974437)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend

That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaining to the properties of the question. I thought this thread was about stuff like innervate / enervate.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974438)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two things that are opposites*

but innervate/enervate is welcome here too, equally TTT

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974453)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend

Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in the sense you mean if you vary the pragmatics—that is why irony is possible and so rich in language. Your issue seems to be with imprecision introduced by using a word like "deceptively" to modify an adjective, since there's ambiguity about whether what is "deceptive" is the easiness or the initial appearance while the true nature is easy.

The meaning can be cleaned up a bit by just modifying the word order and punctuation:

"Deceptively, the test was simple" to my ear sounds like the test was in fact simple;

"The test was simple—deceptively" sounds to me like it appeared simple but that appearance was deceptive.

Still, all told this is an unfortunate construction and best avoided altogether save when strategic ambiguity is the goal.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974532)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:41 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your interpretations of the two examples you gave, but good call about the ambiguity of what "deceptively" is modifying

and yeah i realized after poasting that someone was probably going to point out that ANY word can mean diff things based on context >__>

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974553)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: startling sooty mad-dog skullcap

need julia here

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974454)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:23 PM
Author: Purple well-lubricated dilemma

inflammable

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974458)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: spruce multi-colored cuckoldry

(dr. nick)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974466)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

well the issue with that one is that the two words sound like opposites but are synonyms. also TTT. i'm guessing the "in" is from "inflame" but i'm too lazy to verify

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974475)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: Contagious Gunner

cleave

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974462)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

titc cleave

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974477)



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Date: February 16th, 2022 3:06 PM
Author: Excitant filthpig

that one was my contribution the last time we did this thread

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43978151)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:25 PM
Author: glittery orchestra pit dopamine

so far oversight is the only one

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974468)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Lime racy reading party

Sanction

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974480)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Out-of-control Azure Death Wish Trailer Park



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974481)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:28 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

another good one!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974485)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Brilliant wild pistol foreskin

faggot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974482)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

🤔🤔🤔

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974524)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:29 PM
Author: Lime racy reading party

Overlook

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974492)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:31 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

cr similar to oversight

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974509)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:30 PM
Author: Lime racy reading party

They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974499)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:32 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant "words that sound like antonyms but are synonyms"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974513)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 16th, 2022 3:04 PM
Author: Lime racy reading party



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43978133)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:36 PM
Author: Irradiated Nowag Organic Girlfriend



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974536)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:33 PM
Author: hot son of senegal

science

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974519)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:42 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

lol, fair

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974557)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: rusted kitchen

cavalier

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974525)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:43 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

rly? what are the two meanings?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974559)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: Exciting Field

moot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974531)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:44 PM
Author: Mischievous alcoholic step-uncle's house patrolman

whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" meaning; i always just used it to mean "irrelevant"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#43974567)



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Date: April 7th, 2026 10:21 PM
Author: oomox



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2)#49802525)