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英文中某些单词同时具备相反的意思,通常称为auto-antonym、autantonym、contranym、contronym、 antagonym、Janus word、enantiodrome或self-antonym。以下列举常见例子。
Apology: An admission of error accompanied by a plea for forgiveness: He wrote a letter of apology to the hostess
A formal defense or justification (as in Plato"s Apology), also referred to as an apologia: The consequence of those measures will be the best apology for my conduct
Buckle: To secure, tighten, hold: Buckle the lock onto the door
To collapse: His knees buckled
Cleave: To adhere: Cleave to one"s principles
To split: Cleave a path through the ice
Clip: To clasp or fasten with a clip: Clip the papers together
To cut or cut off: Clipped three seconds off the record
Cool: Pleasant, agreeable, happy: He has a cool sports car
Polite but strained, less than agreeable: A cool greeting
Critical: Vital to success: A critical element of the plan
Disparaging: A critical attitude
Custom: Conventional behavior: My custom of reading a little before sleep
Specially designed: A custom tailor
Discursive: Rambling, free-form (American): A discursive speech about this and that
Strictly structured (British): A discursive mind
Disposed: Removed, gotten rid of: A despot who disposed of all his enemies, real or imagined
Available: Disposed to take risks
Dollop: Large amount: A dollop of ice cream
Small amount: A dollop of whiskey
Dust: To remove dust from: Dust the furniture
To put dust on: Dusted the cookies with sugarEither: One or the other of two: Which movie do you want to see? Either will be fine
The one and the other: Rings on either hand
Eventual: Inevitable: His eventual failure
Possible, contingent (archaic): Warned of eventual consequences
Fast: To move or do quickly: Running fast
To not move: Stuck fast
Fix: To mend: Fixed a broken machine
To break (slang): That"ll fix him good
Flank: To protect the sides of something
To attack the flanksFor: To cause: A tranquilizer is used for relaxation. To alleviate: Aspirin is used for painGarnish: To add to (food): Garnished the potatoes with parsley
To take from (wage): His employer garnished his wages in order to pay his debt
Grade: Inclined: The road has a steep grade
Level: The base of the tower was below grade
Generally:sometimes ambiguous Usually true, but also subject to exception: The child generally has little to say
All-inclusive, without exception (e.g. in mathematics)
Handicap: Advantage (e.g. in sports): The experience gave him the handicap over me
Disadvantage/disability: Hearing handicap
Hardly: Barely: I could hardly hear the speaker
With extreme power: Her voice fell hardly on our ears
Hew: To stick: Hew to the line
To separate: Hew an oak
If not:ambiguous Though not: Attractive if not pretty Even: Attractive if not beautifulImpassionate: Strongly affected
Without passion or feelingLease: To lend: We leased our apartment to friends when we were abroad
To borrow: Let"s lease a car
Left: To have gone: He has left
Remaining: The left-over food
Literally: Actually, not figuratively: There are people in the world who literally do not know how to boil water
Virtually, not literal: They had literally no help from the government on the project
Livid: Discolored, dull blue: A face livid with shock
Reddish, flushed: Willful stupidity makes him absolutely livid
Lurid: Pale, bland: Moonlight gave the statue a lurid luminence
Vividly descriptive: A lurid account of the crime
Momentarily: For a brief moment (British): We paused momentarily before proceeding
Soon (American): The manager is on another line, but she will be with you momentarily
Off: Not operating: The light is off
To start operating: An alarm goes offOriginal: New and freshly conceived: Original ideas
Ancient, staid and preserved: The original inhabitants of the Americas
Out: To remove: The lights are out To exhibit prominently: The stars are outOutstanding: Exceptional, excellent, prominent: Did outstanding work in human relations
Unsettled, unresolved, overdue: Outstanding debts
Oversight: Noun form of oversee: in charge of
Noun form of overlook: errorPeruse: To glance at, to skim over (a common mistake in usage): I only had a moment to peruse the manual quickly
To examine closely (by definition): The librarians checked to see which titles had been perused in the last month and which been left untouched
Pitch: Discard: Pitched the can out the window
Promote: Showed up on local TV to pitch their views
Pitted:(fruit) With pit(果核) Without pitPresently: Immediately (old meaning)
In a while (present meaning): She will arrive presently
Protest: To speak for: To protest peace To speak against: To protest the warQualified: Limited: Qualified success Skilled, skillful: A qualified expertRent: Paying to use something: I"m renting an apartment Taking money to let someone else to use something: We rent cars to anyoneReservation: A confirmation of availability A fear or uncertaintyResign: Re-sign, to commit to continuing:Resign oneself to work Relieve oneself of commitment: To resign from workSanction: 词根本意是holy,后引申为law、decree。 To allow, encourage: He may seem ready to sanction the use of force
To punish so as to deter: Failure to sanction countries for butchering whalesSanctimony: Holiness, sanctity or religiousness Pretended, affected, hypocritical holinessScan: To examine closely (old meaning): The surgeon scanned the X-ray
To look over hastily (contemporary meaning): Scanned the newspaper while eating breakfast
Screen: To conceal with or as if with a screen: Weatherbeater screens your roof from the rain
To display prominently: Screening a filmSeed: To add seeds: Seeding a field To remove seeds: Seeding a fruitSeveral: Separate, single, individual: The several states (old meaning) More than two, pluralShelled: To remove a shell: We shelled the hazelnuts To have a shell: Turtles are like shelled snakes with legsShow-stopper: Something that is strikingly attractive A bug that makes an implementation unusable (computer industry)Sinople: Green RedSkin: To add skin: To skin the kayak To remove skin: To skin the deerStakeholder: To hold a stake but not have interest in (old meaning) To have an interest in an issue (corporate governance)Stay: To stop an action: To stay the execution To continue an action: To stay the courseSuspicious: Acting in a way that suggests wrong-doing: He seems very suspicious Suspecting wrong-doing in others: He was suspicious of her motivesTable: To raise an issue for discussion: To table a bill for consideration by a legislative body
To lay aside an issue and discontinue discussion: Let"s table the exam
Temper: To soften or mollify: Temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom
To strengthen (e.g. a metal): Soldiers who had been tempered by combat
Trim: To cut something away: Trimmed his moustache
To add something as an ornament: Trim a shop windowTrip: To move effortlessly and fluidly: The tripped along without a care in the world
To fall as a result of colliding with an obstacle: She tripped over the tree root
Trying: Hard to endure: He"s really a trying child
To make an effort: I"m trying to finish the project
Unitize: To form or combine into one unit: Unitize a car body
To divide or separate into multiple units: The hospital was unitized for efficiency
Weather: To endure: To weather the elements
To erode, decay: A weathered old hut
参考资料:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto-antonyms_in_English