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

fucking "deceptively" "the question was de...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
Oversight
Federal Sound Barrier
  02/15/22
ooh good one! "this oversight was a result of a seri...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaini...
Razzmatazz toilet seat hell
  02/15/22
fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in...
Razzmatazz toilet seat hell
  02/15/22
credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your inter...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
need julia here
lake office
  02/15/22
inflammable
painfully honest casino antidepressant drug
  02/15/22
(dr. nick)
lascivious maroon place of business gas station
  02/15/22
well the issue with that one is that the two words sound lik...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
cleave
gold address stock car
  02/15/22
titc cleave
provocative feces
  02/15/22
that one was my contribution the last time we did this threa...
cheese-eating frum organic girlfriend striped hyena
  02/16/22
so far oversight is the only one
Misunderstood irradiated gaping
  02/15/22
Sanction
Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner
  02/15/22
...
Erotic Vibrant Lettuce
  02/15/22
another good one!
provocative feces
  02/15/22
faggot
Mint sticky station party of the first part
  02/15/22
🤔🤔🤔
provocative feces
  02/15/22
Overlook
Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner
  02/15/22
cr similar to oversight
provocative feces
  02/15/22
They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists
Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner
  02/15/22
tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
...
Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner
  02/16/22
...
Razzmatazz toilet seat hell
  02/15/22
science
Ungodly Digit Ratio Round Eye
  02/15/22
lol, fair
provocative feces
  02/15/22
cavalier
exhilarant very tactful institution half-breed
  02/15/22
rly? what are the two meanings?
provocative feces
  02/15/22
moot
Stimulating nursing home
  02/15/22
whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" mea...
provocative feces
  02/15/22
...
oomox
  04/07/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:16 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974432)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:17 PM
Author: Federal Sound Barrier

Oversight

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974437)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Razzmatazz toilet seat hell

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=2Reputation#43974438)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974453)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: Razzmatazz toilet seat hell

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=2Reputation#43974532)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:41 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974553)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: lake office

need julia here

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:23 PM
Author: painfully honest casino antidepressant drug

inflammable

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: lascivious maroon place of business gas station

(dr. nick)

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974475)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: gold address stock car

cleave

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: provocative feces

titc cleave

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 16th, 2022 3:06 PM
Author: cheese-eating frum organic girlfriend striped hyena

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:25 PM
Author: Misunderstood irradiated gaping

so far oversight is the only one

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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner

Sanction

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Erotic Vibrant Lettuce



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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:28 PM
Author: provocative feces

another good one!

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Mint sticky station party of the first part

faggot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: provocative feces

🤔🤔🤔

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:29 PM
Author: Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner

Overlook

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:31 PM
Author: provocative feces

cr similar to oversight

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:30 PM
Author: Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:32 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974513)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 16th, 2022 3:04 PM
Author: Titillating Shivering Boltzmann Gunner



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:36 PM
Author: Razzmatazz toilet seat hell



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:33 PM
Author: Ungodly Digit Ratio Round Eye

science

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:42 PM
Author: provocative feces

lol, fair

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: exhilarant very tactful institution half-breed

cavalier

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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:43 PM
Author: provocative feces

rly? what are the two meanings?

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



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: Stimulating nursing home

moot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:44 PM
Author: provocative feces

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=2Reputation#43974567)



Reply Favorite

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



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