What are two words that have opposite or very different meanings?

The term you’re looking for is oxymoron, which comes from a Greek word whose literal translation is ‘pointedly foolish’. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two apparently contradictory terms appear together. Examples include a deafening silence, harmonious discord, an open secret, and the living dead.

What is the name for words that are similar in two languages?

Cognates
Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. While English may share very few cognates with a language like Chinese, 30-40\% of all words in English have a related word in Spanish. For Spanish-speaking ELLs, cognates are an obvious bridge to the English language.

Is Janus a word?

Janus, the Roman god of gates and doorways and of beginnings and endings. Janus word is a word (such as cleave) having opposite or contradictory meanings depending on the context in which the word is used. Also called antilogy, contronym, contranym, autantonym, auto-antonym, and contradictanyma.

Which English word has opposite meanings?

A contronym, often referred to as a Janus word or auto-antonym, is a word that evokes contradictory or reverse meanings depending on the context.

What words are the same in multiple languages but have different meanings?

Here are 25 words that are the same in multiple languages, but have different meanings: 1. “‘Gift’. English: a present. German: poison. Norwegian: married. same spelling, different pronunciation.” – picnic_on_the_river. 2. “‘Slut’ is Swedish for ‘the end’” – HamBus.

What is a word that has opposite meanings?

A contronym is one word that has opposite meanings, which depends on the context of its use. It seems illogical that one word can have two different meanings, which can be the exact opposite of the other at times. For example, the word cleave means to cling, to adhere or to stick to something or someone.

What is the difference between synonyms and antonyms?

The simplest explanation is that they are words that have opposite meanings. Several nyms comprise the English language. Words that mean the same thing are synonyms. Words that sound the same but have different spelling, such as pear and pair are homonyms. Antonyms are the opposite meaning of a word.

What are words that are spelled similarly and have different meanings?

Do you know what the words that are spelled similarly and have two different meanings are called? They are called contronyms. The simplest explanation is that they are words that have opposite meanings. Several nyms comprise the English language.