Opposites Attract

                                                    Photo credit: Pixabay, via Pexels

Even with as little time as I spend on social media and my active avoidance of the news, I still encounter an insane amount of random bits of information online. It really shouldn't be surprising, given the research rabbit holes I routinely fall into, but still—there's so much.

Fortunately, enough of those random bits delight my word nerd heart, like discovering a list of contronyms. Merriam-Webster.com defines contronym as a word having two meanings that contradict one another, such as bolt, which can mean to secure or to flee, and cleave, which can mean to adhere or to separate. Contronyms are also know as antagonyms, autoantonyms, or Janus words, so named for the two-faced Roman god of doors, gates, and transitions. Even more word nerd delight—a definition that leads to another rabbit hole!

Here are a few more words with contradictory definitions:

1. Apology: a statement of contrition for an act, or a defiance of one
2. Bound: heading for a destination, or restrained from movement
3. Dust: to add fine particles, or to remove them
4. Fast: Quick or stuck or made stable
5. Left: remained or departed
6. Peer: a person of nobility or an equal
7. Sanction: to approve or to boycott
8. Weather: to withstand or to wear away

Fun stuff, and enough to keep me entertained, and yes, distracted, when I should be writing, or at least doing research to lend whatever I'm working on an air of authenticity. Which feels like my own form of contradiction, as I try to power through without getting distracted while wanting to keep finding those gems of word nerdiness. Guess that's just the Janus nature of my writer brain.