Sunday, June 18, 2006

 

One word with opposite meanings

This is inspired by a post from CG. Can anyone think of a word with two opposite meanings? I have posted the standard answer as a comment, but can anyone come up with any others?

# posted by Daniel Hill @ 2:31 pm
Comments:
The standard example is 'cleave': one can cleave something into two parts, and yet husband and wife cleave together.
# posted by Blogger Daniel Hill : 2:33 pm
 
"sanction" can mean "permit" and also (in modern usage, not perhaps the best) "punish with a view to preventing". I found myself using it in the latter sense recently in a European context, no doubt causing confusion. I should have remembered the rule (quoted in the "Times" recently): "Don't verb nouns".
# posted by Blogger twr57 : 11:03 pm
 
Thanks, Michael and twr57 for these helpful comments.
# posted by Blogger Daniel Hill : 10:54 am
 
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