\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

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

fucking "deceptively" "the question was de...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
Oversight
territorial lay
  02/15/22
ooh good one! "this oversight was a result of a seri...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaini...
Green love of her life
  02/15/22
fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in...
Green love of her life
  02/15/22
credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your inter...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
need julia here
Canary parlor
  02/15/22
inflammable
beta splenetic office
  02/15/22
(dr. nick)
vermilion mentally impaired abode
  02/15/22
well the issue with that one is that the two words sound lik...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
cleave
pearl boyish nursing home
  02/15/22
titc cleave
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
that one was my contribution the last time we did this threa...
Transparent histrionic kitchen kitty
  02/16/22
so far oversight is the only one
Lascivious library azn
  02/15/22
Sanction
Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation
  02/15/22
...
Snowy sanctuary
  02/15/22
another good one!
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
faggot
spectacular center knife
  02/15/22
🤔🤔🤔
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
Overlook
Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation
  02/15/22
cr similar to oversight
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists
Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation
  02/15/22
tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
...
Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation
  02/16/22
...
Green love of her life
  02/15/22
science
Rebellious ocher mad-dog skullcap
  02/15/22
lol, fair
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
cavalier
Excitant tank
  02/15/22
rly? what are the two meanings?
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
moot
Fragrant dopamine
  02/15/22
whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" mea...
Amethyst round eye sandwich
  02/15/22
...
oomox
  04/07/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:16 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: territorial lay

Oversight

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Green love of her life

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: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Green love of her life

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: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Canary parlor

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: beta splenetic office

inflammable

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: vermilion mentally impaired abode

(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: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: pearl boyish nursing home

cleave

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

titc cleave

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 16th, 2022 3:06 PM
Author: Transparent histrionic kitchen kitty

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: Lascivious library azn

so far oversight is the only one

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation

Sanction

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Snowy sanctuary



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:28 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: spectacular center knife

faggot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

🤔🤔🤔

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:29 PM
Author: Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation

Overlook

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:31 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation

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: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Dull Electric Principal's Office Mediation



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:36 PM
Author: Green love of her life



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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:33 PM
Author: Rebellious ocher mad-dog skullcap

science

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:42 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Excitant tank

cavalier

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:43 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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: Fragrant dopamine

moot

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



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:44 PM
Author: Amethyst round eye sandwich

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)



Reply Favorite

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



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