Dictionary.com Word FAQs

Dictionary.com » Word FAQs » Trivia

What are contranyms? Can you give me some examples?

A word that can mean the opposite of itself, like "cleave," is a contranym. Another name for this is antagonym. Richard Lederer listed 37 in his book Crazy English (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989): bolt, buckle, certain, cleave, clip, commencement, critical, dress, dust, fast, fix, give out, handicap, hold up, impregnable, keep up, left, moot, mortal, oversight, put out, qualified, sanction, scan, screen, seeded, strike, take, temper, think better, trim, trip, unbending, wear, weather, wind up, with.