contronymy

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US/kənˈtɹɑn.ə.mi/US/kənˈtɹɒn.ə.mi/

noun

The quality of being a contronym or including contronyms.

“Near-synonym: enantiosemy”

Scrabble 20

Meanings

nouncontronymy (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms.

    Near-synonym: enantiosemy

    3 more examples

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

    2008, BI Karaman, “On contronymy”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 21, number 2

    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.'

    2011, Tony Thorne, The 100 Words That Make The English, →ISBN

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

    2013, Hye Seung Lee, “Semantics of COM”, in Selected Papers from the Seventeenth College-Wide Conference for Students in Languages, Linguistics, & Literature

    Synonyms: antilogy, autoantonymy, enantionymy, enantiosemy

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms.

Origin

From contronym + -y; also, by surface analysis, contro- + -nymy.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French énantiosémie
  • énantiosémiethe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms
Hungarian antagonímia, kontronímia
  • antagonímiathe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms
  • kontronímiathe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms
  • enantioszémiathe quality of being a contronym or including contronyms

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with contronymy

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

contronymy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contronymy

MLA

“contronymy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contronymy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contronymy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contronymy.

Source: contronymy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.