Contronymy

Quick meaning: Contronymy is a noun meaning The quality of being a contranym or including contranyms.

Meaning

The quality of being a contranym or including contranyms.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: enantiosemy

Kronasser (1952) and Meid (1979) argue that language change results in the occurrence of contronymy in natural language.

Contronymy, a phenomenon which has received much attention in recent years, has often been described as sense opposition at the micro-level.

Today the same word can mean 'wholly', 'to a considerable extent' ('Quite the little madam, aren't we?') or '(only) to some extent', 'partially' or 'somewhat' ('feeling quite tired'), though theoretical linguists explain this slightly differently: 'At the micro-level the lexical unit represents a case for contronymy of antonymy type if it can be subjected to gradation and if it comprises at least two senses which are contradictory within one aspect.'

Synonyms for contronymy

Depending on context, synonyms include antilogy, autoantonymy, enantionymy, enantiosemy.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include contranymy, contronym, contranym, antinomy, enantiosemy, antonymy.

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