Is there such a thing in the English language as words or phrases that can mean a something or its opposite depending on the context in which they are employed, without the use of sarcasm?
If so, how are they named?
Is there such a thing in the English language as words or phrases that can mean a something or its opposite depending on the context in which they are employed, without the use of sarcasm?
If so, how are they named?
Wikipedia has a pretty long list of names for words like this:
An auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), or contronym (also spelled contranym), is a word with a homograph (another word of the same spelling) which is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning). An auto-antonym is alternatively called an antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god), enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, or addad (Arabic, singular didd). It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings. This phenomenon is called enantiosemy, enantionymy, or antilogy.
EDIT: If anyone's interested, here's a brief video that explains the etymologies of some common auto-antonyms (the video uses the term "contronyms").
This is a quite good term: "chameleon words"
The Way of Words: An Informal Logic - Page 71
Ronald Munson - 1976
But chameleon words have no identity separate from their disguises. They are what they are made to be by the users of the words.