This morning, my alarm went off while the lights were off.
Contronyms are special cases of homographs - two words with the same spelling. They’re unique in that the variations are antonyms.
Some examples:
- anabasis – military advance/military retreat
- apology – admission of fault in what you think, say, or do/formal defense of what you think, say, or do
- aught – all/nothing
- bolt – secure/run away
- by – multiplication (a three by five matrix)/division (dividing eight by four)
- chuffed – pleased/annoyed
- cleave – separate/adhere
- clip – fasten/detach
- consult – ask for advice/give advice
- copemate – partner/antagonist
- custom – usual/special
- deceptively smart – smarter than one appears/dumber than one appears
- dike – wall/ditch
- discursive – proceeding coherently from topic to topic/moving aimlessly from topic to topic
- dollop – a large amount/a small amount
- dust – add fine particles/remove fine particles
- enjoin – prescribe/prohibit
- fast – quick/unmoving
- first degree – most severe (murder)/least severe (burn)
- fix – restore/castrate
- flog – criticize harshly,/promote aggressively
- garnish – enhance (food)/curtail (wages)
- give out – produce/stop production
- grade – incline/level
- handicap – advantage/disadvantage
- help – assist/prevent (I can’t help it if)
- left – remaining/departed from
- liege – sovereign lord/loyal subject
- mean – terrible/excellent (plays a mean game)
- off – off/on (the alarm went off)
- out – visible (stars) invisible (lights)
- out of – outside (I work out in the field) /inside (I work out of my home)
- oversight – error/care
- pitted – with the pit in/with the pit removed
- put out – extinguish/generate
- quiddity – essence/trifling point
- quite – rather/completely
- ravel – tangle/disentangle
- rent – buy use of/sell use of
- sanction – approve/boycott
- sanguine – hopeful/murderous (obsolete synonym for sanguinary)
- screen – show/hide
- seed – add seeds (to seed a field)/remove seeds (to seed a tomato)
- skinned – with the skin on/with the skin removed
- strike – hit/miss (in baseball)
- table – propose (in the United Kingdom)/set aside (in the United States)
- transparent – invisible/obvious
- unbending – rigid/relaxing
- variety – one type (this variety), many types (a variety)
- wear – endure through use/decay through use
- weather – withstand/wear away
- wind up – end/start (wind up a watch)
- with – alongside/against