terminology - What is the term for words that can be used as the opposite of themselves?


What is the term for words that can be used as the opposite of themselves?


I know there are a few of them out there, it is possible to 'Dust a cake with Icing' and if the cake were on a shelf for a long time (must be a bad bakery) then it would be acceptable to 'Dust the cake' to remove any dust particles...


In this case, 'Dust with Icing' implies the addition of something to the cake where 'Dust the cake' implies the action of removing dust from the cake


Other examples:


Bolt - To hold in place or to Run away with haste... Trim - To remove a small portion or to add small bits that make it pretty...



Answer



This is an autoantonym, which has a number of variants enumerated on Wikipedia.


Someone coined antagonym in 1999.


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