Autoantonyms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term describing words that possess contradictory meanings, enabling them to express opposing concepts within the same lexical item
2. Referring to words that can mean both one thing and its opposite, creating a unique linguistic phenomenon
3. Denoting vocabulary items that exhibit dual meanings which can contradict each other, highlighting complexity in language use

Etymology: "Autoantonyms" is the plural of "autoantonym," a term for a word that carries two opposite meanings at once, such as "cleave" (to split apart and to cling together) or "sanction" (to permit and to punish). The word was coined or first recorded in 1960 by Joseph T. Shipley, who used the spelling "autantonym" in his book "Playing with Words." The formation is transparent: "auto-," from Greek "autos" meaning "self," is attached to "antonym," a word for a term whose sense is opposite to another's. So an autoantonym is a word that acts as its own antonym. The prefix does the work, turning a word for a relationship between two words into a description of a single word that holds both ends of that relationship.