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

fucking "deceptively" "the question was de...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
Oversight
bat-shit-crazy jew yarmulke
  02/15/22
ooh good one! "this oversight was a result of a seri...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaini...
silver titillating orchestra pit
  02/15/22
fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in...
silver titillating orchestra pit
  02/15/22
credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your inter...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
need julia here
Pale dilemma
  02/15/22
inflammable
fantasy-prone chapel roommate
  02/15/22
(dr. nick)
abusive floppy stag film
  02/15/22
well the issue with that one is that the two words sound lik...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
cleave
crawly angry regret locale
  02/15/22
titc cleave
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
that one was my contribution the last time we did this threa...
exciting field
  02/16/22
so far oversight is the only one
Excitant filthpig
  02/15/22
Sanction
Tantric anal national depressive
  02/15/22
...
Racy demanding cruise ship incel
  02/15/22
another good one!
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
faggot
Mewling church cuckold
  02/15/22
🤔🤔🤔
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
Overlook
Tantric anal national depressive
  02/15/22
cr similar to oversight
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists
Tantric anal national depressive
  02/15/22
tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
...
Tantric anal national depressive
  02/16/22
...
silver titillating orchestra pit
  02/15/22
science
180 hyperactive hospital boistinker
  02/15/22
lol, fair
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
cavalier
Impertinent Boltzmann Goyim
  02/15/22
rly? what are the two meanings?
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
moot
beady-eyed ticket booth
  02/15/22
whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" mea...
chestnut confused circlehead
  02/15/22
...
oomox
  04/07/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:16 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:17 PM
Author: bat-shit-crazy jew yarmulke

Oversight

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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: silver titillating orchestra pit

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: chestnut confused circlehead

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: silver titillating orchestra pit

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)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:41 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: Pale dilemma

need julia here

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:23 PM
Author: fantasy-prone chapel roommate

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: abusive floppy stag film

(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: chestnut confused circlehead

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: crawly angry regret locale

cleave

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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: exciting field

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)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:25 PM
Author: Excitant filthpig

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: Tantric anal national depressive

Sanction

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Racy demanding cruise ship incel



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:28 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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: Mewling church cuckold

faggot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

🤔🤔🤔

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:29 PM
Author: Tantric anal national depressive

Overlook

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:31 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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: Tantric anal national depressive

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: chestnut confused circlehead

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)



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Date: February 16th, 2022 3:04 PM
Author: Tantric anal national depressive



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:36 PM
Author: silver titillating orchestra pit



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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:33 PM
Author: 180 hyperactive hospital boistinker

science

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:42 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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: Impertinent Boltzmann Goyim

cavalier

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:43 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

rly? what are the two meanings?

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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: beady-eyed ticket booth

moot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:44 PM
Author: chestnut confused circlehead

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)