Auto-antonyms

This list consists of five words, each defined twice. The words are special not because they have more than one definition, but because two of their definitions are nearly opposites of one another-these words can be considered antonyms of themselves. The existence of these words, which can mean contradictory things, highlights the importance of context in language. Outside of a context these words can be confusing, but in a conversation or written passage they almost never are, and it is only upon reflection that we realize the strange nature of these words.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. apparent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    Though DC is also challenging Marvel’s big-screen dominance, its edge on TV is becoming increasingly apparent.
    —Time (May 6, 2014)
  2. apparent
    appearing as such but not necessarily so
    He later died of an apparent heart attack.
    -Time (Apr 30, 2014)
  3. oversight
    an unintentional omission from failure to notice something
    It can’t be just an oversight that has led us to this cascade of shockingly bad capital punishment procedures.
    —Time (May 2, 2014)
  4. oversight
    management by watching and directing a person or group
    “I didn’t feel like there was any oversight, either from the government or from self-regulating entities,” he said in an interview last month.
    —New York Times (May 5, 2014)
  5. cleave
    separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    South Sudan became the world’s newest country in 2011 when it cleaved off from larger Sudan after a referendum.
    —Time (Apr 24, 2014)
  6. cleave
    stick or hold together and resist separation
    But cleaving to their old tasks and letting others take on the new unsupervised is not an option.
    —Economist (Dec 5, 2013)
  7. root
    cause to take hold and begin to grow
    The latest quarrel in Congress is rooted in political and ideological splits between powerful party blocs within the legislative body, our correspondent says.
    —BBC (May 5, 2014)
  8. root
    dig around or dig into
    Another law to root out swearing in feature films provoked much last month, with critics saying the measure amounts to backdoor political censorship.
    —BBC (May 6, 2014)
  9. bound
    confined by bonds
    As they flapped their arms under dimming lights, they appeared to be taking flight, shaking off whatever had bound them.
    —New York Times (May 6, 2014)
  10. bound
    move forward by leaping
    A sandy-colored dog bounds into a lake, sending a gaggle of waterfowl honking and flapping.
    —New York Times (May 5, 2014)
Created on Tue May 06 19:22:29 EDT 2014 (updated Mon May 12 15:43:59 EDT 2014)

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