Timeline for Is there a word that means the opposite of what it describes?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 2, 2020 at 13:45 | comment | added | Brian Donovan | I am downvoting this question because though some "answers" have some value, all of them seem to misread the question as asking for a term for a class of words, where it is actually asking for a word from this class. A question so excessively brief and so uniformly misread would seem to be itself at fault. If OP wanted to ask what is answered, it would have required something like "is there a word that means a word that means . . . ?" | |
| Dec 2, 2020 at 13:35 | review | Low quality posts | |||
| Dec 2, 2020 at 13:40 | |||||
| Jan 27, 2017 at 9:48 | comment | added | chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic- | "Indescribable". | |
| Jan 27, 2017 at 4:12 | comment | added | Pedro Werneck | @JoeFrambach Damn. You beat me to it. | |
| Jan 27, 2017 at 0:49 | comment | added | Ray | Would "monosyllabic" fall into the category you're asking about? | |
| Jan 27, 2017 at 0:29 | history | edited | jimm101 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
for some reason quotes appear without proper spacing, so I switched to italics.
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| Jan 26, 2017 at 20:44 | comment | added | 000 | Inflammable means flammable? What a country! | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 20:36 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jan 27, 2017 at 0:29 | |||||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 20:16 | comment | added | Scott - Слава Україні | In addition to what Mitch said: I can’t tell whether you are asking for examples of such words (or phrases?) or names for this category of word. | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 18:43 | comment | added | Hot Licks | You mean like "corporate management"? | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 17:12 | comment | added | Edheldil | In Czech, monster can be called interchangeably "stvůra" (lit. creature), or "nestvůra" (lit. non-creature). Clearly, one of them describes the opposite of the other ;-). (sorry for posting this originally as an answer, did not notice I was on english SE) | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 16:49 | comment | added | egwene sedai | Thrift means careful with money but spendthrift means a person who spends improvidently or wastefully | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 16:23 | comment | added | Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ | @Hank That is a dupe of what is itself possibly another dupe. | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 16:16 | comment | added | Hank | Possible duplicate of What is the name of a word that doesn't mean what it says? | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 15:53 | answer | added | Mike | timeline score: 12 | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 15:50 | review | Low quality posts | |||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 15:53 | |||||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:58 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 18:07 | |||||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:47 | comment | added | Mitch | Your title makes it sound like you're talking about a single word that means the opposite of what it describes. But your example is about two words, one which is the opposite of the other. Which is it that you want? The latter is a 'contradiction in terms' or an 'oxymoron'. The former is 'heterological'. | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:22 | comment | added | retron | I'm not entirely sure about the question, but your example reminds me of the wryly named "Hill Valley" from Back to the Future. | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:22 | answer | added | Spagirl | timeline score: 19 | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:19 | answer | added | user66974 | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:17 | review | First posts | |||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:36 | |||||
| Jan 26, 2017 at 14:12 | history | asked | Orpha Maria Hernandez | CC BY-SA 3.0 |