Contranyms

contranym (noun) = a word with two opposite meanings



http://www.natalieseredaphotography.com/2038529-on-language

According to Daily Writing Tips - 

 

The English language includes an interesting category of words and phrases called contranyms (also spelled contronyms, or referred to as autoantonyms) — terms that, depending on context, can have opposite or contradictory meanings. When you use these words, be sure the context clearly identifies which meaning is intended:

 

Aught: All, or nothing

Bill: Payment, or invoice for payment

Bolt: To secure, or to flee

Buckle: To connect, or to collapse

Clip: To fasten, or to detach

Custom: A common practice, or a special treatment

Dust: To add fine particles, or to remove them

Enjoin: To impose, or to prohibit

Finished: Completed, or destroyed

Fix: To repair, or to castrate

Garnish: To furnish (food preparation), or to take away (wages)

Handicap: An advantage provided to ensure equality, or a disadvantage that prevents equal achievement

Hold up: To support, or to impede

Left: Remained, or departed

Model: An exemplar, or a copy

Overlook: To supervise, or to neglect

Put out: Extinguish, or generate

Quantum: Significantly large, or a minuscule part

Quiddity: Essence, or a trifling point of contention

Refrain: To desist from doing something, or to repeat

Rock: An immobile mass of stone or figuratively similar phenomenon, or a shaking or unsettling movement or action

Sanction: To approve, or to boycott

Sanguine: Confidently cheerful, or bloodthirsty

Screen: To present, or to conceal

Strike: Hit, or miss in an attempt to hit

Throw out: To dispose of, or to present for consideration

Trim: To decorate, or to remove excess from

Trip: A journey, or a stumble

Variety: Particular type, or many types

Wear: To endure, or to deteriorate

 

For more great contranyms, visit: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/

Word Crimes

In case you missed it ... here's an awesome video to make you smile and laugh:

V is for Visuwords

 

So … you want to be a writer? Where do you start? How do you get there? No worries. This month I’ll be sharing my A to Z list of writer’s resources: books, blogs, and beyond! Check back each day to find helpful resources for improving your writing and navigating your way through the publishing industry.


V is for Visuwords

Writers need words, and sometimes we need a thesaurus or dictionary to help us utilize our words more efficiently. Here's a really fun website that lets you LOOK at words and their relationships with other words in a visually dynamic way: http://www.visuwords.com/

It's really fun. Check it out. ;)

Opposite of FEAR

When writing and revising, it is important to incorporate tension and conflict in each scene. One way to do this is to first identify the main emotion, or beginning emotion, of a scene. Second, thread the opposite emotion into the scene, or have the scene end with the opposite emotion.

So ... with the current scene I'm revising, FEAR is the main (and beginning) emotion. My instincts told me that the opposite of fear is COMFORT. But ... to be thorough, I googled "the opposite of fear."

Who knew the topic was such a controversy?

Several websites argue that COURAGE is not the opposite of fear, because fear is a state of being while courage is an action. Interesting. But couldn't you also argue that action is required to remove yourself from that state of being? Yes, but then courage is merely a pathway to the opposite of fear. Which bring us back to the original question.

What is the opposite of fear?

Several websites argue that FAITH is the opposite. Several others claim that LOVE is the opposite.

Which made me wonder how I could have been so off track with my thought of COMFORT being the opposite?

Let's look at the definitions (according to: www.merriam-webster.com):

FEAR: the emotion experienced in the presence or threat of danger
COMFORT: a feeling of ease from grief or trouble

And yet, neither are listed as an antonym for the other.

What is listed as an antonym for FEAR?

... wait for it ...

...

FEARLESSNESS

...

Seriously? How is that helpful?

Actually, there are more. Here's the list from Merriam-Webster, but they're titled "near antonyms":

Near Antonyms aplomb, assurance, boldness, confidence, self-assurance, self-confidence; bravery, courage, courageousness, daring, dauntlessness, doughtiness, fearlessness, fortitude, gallantry, hardihood, intrepidity, intrepidness, stoutness, valor; audacity, guts, nerve

So ... I think I'll go with HARDIHOOD as my opposite. Do you think it has any relationship to the Hardy Brothers? Hmm?

Hardiharhar.

I don't know.

I honestly think that the opposite of fear is ACTION. Think about it. What do you fear? What would happen if you took action instead of sitting in fear? What would you accomplish? What would you feel?

I think a synonym for fear should be procrastination.

Consumer or Connoisseur?

Have you ever enjoyed a book and then had someone else act like a know-it-all and list a gazillion reasons why it was poorly written and poorly plotted? Or reversely, have you read a book and been irritated by all of the grammatical errors, typos, predictability, and continuity problems ... only to learn the book has been on the best-seller list for months?

Does that make you a CONSUMER or a CONNOISSEUR of books?

According to www.merriam-webster.com:

Definition of CONSUMER: one that consumes 

... <<< Don't you hate it when a word is defined like that? ha. >>> ...

Definition of CONSUME:

...

3a: to eat or drink especially in great quantity <consumed several bags of pretzels>   

b: to enjoy avidly : devour consumes for fun — E. R. Lipson>

4: to engage fully : engross <consumed with curiosity>

5: to utilize as a customer <consume goods and services>

Definition of CONNOISSEUR:

1: expert; especially: one who understands the details, technique, or principles of an art and is competent to act as a critical judge

2: one who enjoys with discrimination and appreciation of subtleties

 

... so ...

 

Which one are you? Does it matter?

CRAFT: Word Choice Pt II

Right ... so ... more on the topic of revising. (Can you tell where my mind has been lately?)

The other day, I grabbed my handy-dandy copy of THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE and flipped through my highlighted and tabbed pages. I wanted to make this the best revision of this ms possible! Page 73 reads:

"Avoid the use of qualifiers. Rather, very, little, pretty -- these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words."


Yikes.

So, I used the "find" feature in MS Word and searched for these words. Holy Smokes! I thought I knew better than to use the word "very" in my writing. But there it was. Over and over AGAIN.

I did decide to leave the word "very" every once in a while in dialogue, but I deleted it from everywhere else. I almost didn't search for the word "pretty" because I thought I never used the word. Imagine my surprise when it showed up over and over AGAIN in my ms.

I think sometimes our mind becomes blind to certain words. Unnecessary words.

What do you think?

Do you think rather, very, little, and pretty are the "leeches" of prose?

CRAFT: Word Choices

*sigh*

I thought I'd be extra efficient with my ms revisions and use the "find" feature in MS Word ... just to make sure I wasn't using certain words too many times.

I think I used the word AGAIN 247 times. Hmm. So, then, I thought okay, I can change or delete some of those! I went through and changed some to "once more" and others to "another time" and so on.

Here's how crazy I am: I didn't sleep well that night because I worried I had altered the "voice" of the character by changing all those words. ACK! Next morning I did the search again, only I searched for "once more" and really read the paragraph to make sure the change fit or if I really preferred the word "again" there. I did the same for "another time" ... sheesh. Talk about spending a lot of time accomplishing nothing.

Have you used the find feature and been shocked with your word choices?

What word do you use AGAIN and AGAIN?

Are YOU Laconic?!

From: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/laconic :

la·con·ic (l-knk)


adj.

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Latin Lacnicus, Spartan, from Greek Laknikos, from Lakn, a Spartan (from the reputation of the Spartans for brevity of speech).]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

la·coni·cal·ly adv.

Word History: The study of the classics allows one to understand the history of the term laconic, which comes to us via Latin from Greek Laknikos. The English word is first recorded in 1583 with the sense "of or relating to Laconia or its inhabitants." Laknikos is derived from Lakn, "a Laconian, a person from Lacedaemon," the name for the region of Greece of which Sparta was the capital. The Spartans, noted for being warlike and disciplined, were also known for the brevity of their speech, and it is this quality that English writers still denote by the use of the adjective laconic, which is first found in this sense in 1589.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

................
Why did I post this? Again, my son's AP English class has me thinking ... who knows ... maybe I'll learn something from his homework this year. Tonight, he asked me to help him think of characters from literature that speak laconically.

I googled it.

Huckleberry Finn? I don't think I agree with Google.

What laconic characters can you come up with?

A Plethora of Esoteric Words

Really?

Yes.

My sixteen-year-old son came up to me the other night and asked, "Mom, would you help me find a plethora of esoteric words?"

Really?

Yes.

He wanted to impress his AP English class. Okay. So then he looked at me doubtfully and asked, "Do you even know what esoteric words are?"

Really?

Yes.

Where's the faith? Sheesh. But then, I was on the spot, and had to produce a definition from the depths of my own brain. That instant. My answer? "Uh ... pretty sure esoteric words are big fancy words that people use to appear smarter than everyone else."

My son smiled. "Close enough," he said.

So ... we googled esoteric words, and found a great list at:
http://www.babylon.com/

I was thrilled to see EUPHEMISM on the list! Because, "euphemism" just happens to be one of my ALL-TIME favorite words!! (for reals!!) So ... boy did I feel smart. I already knew an esoteric word in front of my son! YAY me! 

But then he asked me to explain what a euphemism was ... and that was harder. Because I could suddenly only think of sexual euphemisms ... like:

1. Monkey Dance
2. Pole Vaulting
3. Sit and Spin
4. Wanna Get Busy
5. Oh ... oops ... I forgot that my mom-in-law sometimes reads my blog. Sorry to the mom of my monkey dancing partner! :-) bwhahahahaha.

Anyway ...

Here's the simple definition:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noun
1. an inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, my son asked, "You mean instead of telling someone they are a terrible singer, I could use a euphemism and tell them they are not a very good singer?"

Uh.

No.

I said, "No. But, you could say, 'WOW! You hit notes I didn't even know existed!!" and smile.

ha.

Anyhow ... this post has gone on too long. If I was smarter, I could have ended this post with esoteric words ...

*sigh*

Do you have a favorite esoteric word or a favorite euphemism? Share!