Word.ws English Dictionary

contronym

contronym noun: a word that has two opposing meanings, such as cleave (“stick together” or “split apart”).

Noun

contronym (plural contronyms)

  1. A word that has two opposing meanings, such as cleave (“stick together” or “split apart”).
    • Near-synonym: enantioseme

contronym meaning in Arabic

contronym in Arabic

a word that has two opposing meanings
أَضْدَاد ʔaḍdād

Synonyms of contronym

Forms of contronym

pluralcontronyms

Origin of contronym

From contr(a)- + -onym. Coined 1962 by Jack Herring. Note that the vowel of the suffix generally supersedes the vowel of the prefix, hence coined as contronym, rather than contranym.

Words formed from contronym

Questions about contronym

What does contronym mean?
Contronym means a word that has two opposing meanings, such as cleave (“stick together” or “split apart”).
What is contronym in Arabic?
Contronym in Arabic is أَضْدَاد (ʔaḍdād). See Contronym meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is contronym?
Contronym is a noun.
What is the plural of contronym?
The plural of contronym is contronyms.

Words near contronym in the dictionary

  1. controlls
  2. controlment
  3. controlments
  4. Contrology
  5. controls
  6. contronym
  7. contronymic
  8. contronymous
  9. contronyms
  10. contronymy
  11. controuersie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contronym (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “contronym.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contronym. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.