×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Words that mean the opposite
3

Words that mean the opposite

Words that mean the opposite

(OP)
In the well spoken suburbs of England it's common to hear expressions such as 'awfully' (or 'terribly') good when awful means the opposite to what is intended. Any other examples of opposite adverbs/adjectives anyone?

corus

RE: Words that mean the opposite

"Quite a few" springs to mind.

As a non-English individual it is hard to understand. "Few" means "not many" - I think. Why, then, does "Quite a few" mean "many"?

Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org

RE: Words that mean the opposite

According to Webster's Dictionary awful has various meanings, one of them is exceedingly great and is used an intensifier.

"Quite a few" seems a rhetorical device to convey something markedly different from the literal meaning.
These figures of speech would be called antiphrasis as when saying "eighty years young".
They could also be called oxymorons as in "the wisest fool in Christendom".

RE: Words that mean the opposite

(OP)
Some people might say the 'United' States and, just to show there's no bias, 'Great' Britain.

corus

RE: Words that mean the opposite

You could also say that "Royal Family" falls into the oxymorons group ... but I think a better group would be minus the 'oxy'.


Making the best use of this Forum.  FAQ559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions.  FAQ559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of.  FAQ559-520

RE: Words that mean the opposite

corus,

It is worth remembering that the primary meaning of "awful" is "capable of inspiring awe". A biblical reference to "an awful God" is NOT in any way derogatory. That is, "awful" is (almost) identical in meaning to "awesome". (I am here referring to "awesome" as used in its "conventional" sense, not its modern slang meaning of "good". It's getting harder and harder to provide clear meanings of words, when the meaning of so many other words is also evolving rapidly!)

The conventional modern usage meaning "very bad" only dates from around 1800. Over time since then, it has evolved further to become a general intensifier, which gets its sense from the context (e.g. "awful weather", "awfully kind of you", etc.)

RE: Words that mean the opposite

2

Quote (CorBlimeyLimey):

You could also say that "Royal Family" falls into the oxymorons group
In what sense do you consider that to be an oxymoron? Or was it just a cheap jibe at a group that can't answer back? Or have I missed something?

Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read FAQ731-376 before posting

UK steam enthusiasts: www.essexsteam.co.uk

RE: Words that mean the opposite

"Wicked" is, I believe, a youth term for something impressive.
(PS, I echo Johnwm's sentiment)

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Inflammable.

RE: Words that mean the opposite

One of my favoutite file quotes comes from the tree Amigis:  "This guy El Guapo is not just famous, he's IN-famous!"

RE: Words that mean the opposite

"Awful" might mean "inspiring awe", but I don't know of any literal meaning of "terrible" that isn't negative.

The use of just plain "bad" for "good" seems to be fading, but "bad-ass" is alive and well.

For that matter, the "-ass" intensifier could be seen as an example of something that ought to be bad but isn't necessarily.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines:  FAQ731-376

RE: Words that mean the opposite

"He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword.  His truth is marching on."

In the sense of "inspiring terror".

Then there's "nominally", which means two different things, just similar enough to inspire confusion when traded between British and American engineers.

A.

RE: Words that mean the opposite

When the sailors (300 years ago or more) sailed through the (what is now called Pacific) ocean, they found storms and rough sea. The ocean normally would be name "Stormistic". Instead they named the ocean Pacific which means of a peaceful nature.

This form of speech is called euphimism.

Other example
Break a leg - for wishing good luck

Costas

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Cleave

RE: Words that mean the opposite

"Wicked" is, I believe, a youth term for something impressive
Only in the northeast, and I think it's usually used as an intensifier ("wicked cool").  In northern parts of CA, "hella" is an intensifier or an indicator of large quantities.  Hence the joke "how many northern californians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  hella." (not a very good joke, really, as "hella" would never be used alone, but in conjunction with some item or adjective "hella their guys came outta the van" or "hella cool.")

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Greenland / Iceland

I've read that Spanish explorers purposely reversed the names of these two islands on maps so that anyone who'd pilfered a map would be tempted to sail to Greenland rather than Iceland.

regards,

Hydroformer

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Perfect

As in, "That's just perfect."  Meaning something is really messed up.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Moot,

Look it up

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Varsamidis,

   The Cape of Good Hope was renamed from the Cape of Storms, for reasons very similar to the Pacific Ocean.

   I did not think the Spanish had anything to do with Greenland and Iceland.  I believe "Greenland" was an attempt to sell a trip to a new land with a homicidal Viking explorer.

   Lord Woodhouselee's Universal History starts off with a discussion of the sacred and the profane historians.  I was shocked to see phrase "the sacred and the profane" used that way, but it makes sense, at least to an early nineteenth century historian.  

   Consider the terms "idiot", "moron", "mental retard" and "intellectually challenged".  The terms started off having fairly precise meanings, but they make such good insults.

                               JHG

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Drawoh,
Of course, some words have changed meaning so much and in so short a time us older folk can be caught out.
I now have to be more discrete about the term "Gay" for example.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Words that mean the opposite

One that amuses me is "sophisticate".  Its true meaning is hardly ever the intention when used...


v.tr.
To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.
To make impure; adulterate.
To make more complex or inclusive; refine.

v.intr.
To use sophistry.

n.
A sophisticated person.

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Perhaps this all goes to show that English, in all its forms, is a vibrant living language that responds to the world around it

It's bostin our kid
Blackcountryman

RE: Words that mean the opposite

(OP)
A deafening silence would have many people perplexed

corus

RE: Words that mean the opposite

Not if they are 80 years young.

RE: Words that mean the opposite

I'd like to add sanction to the list of contranyms.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources