# Are there any words that have come to mean the exact opposite of their original meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624 "2010-06-26T21:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/61 "2010-06-27T04:32:37Z")
“Anxious,” in many cases, since it often means “eager” ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/62 "2010-06-27T04:32:59Z")
I don’t know that this word has “come to” mean something opposite of what it originally did. Rather, like “cleave,” it can have two completely opposite meanings when used in this context: “It’s all downhill from here” – which can either mean it’ll be easy going from now on, or can mean that things will rapidly turn to shit from this point forward. There was a _Saturday Night Live_ sketch quite a few years ago that used both this and several other dual-meaning phrases to comic effect. Unfortunately, I’m not remembering what the others were. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/63 "2010-06-27T05:38:13Z")
There’s a lot of words that have their own opposites. Clip, before, hew, off, scan, several, unbending and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/64 "2010-06-27T07:28:32Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “Manufacture” originally meant “to make by hand,” and now is almost always used to mean to make through an industrial or automated process. Ooo, that’s a good one. It minds me of _manure_, which comes from the same source and originally also meant work done by hand, but came to just mean shit. Which reminds me of _shit_, feces, which by simple logical extension came to mean something that is bad: “That car is shit.” But if you say something is _the shit_, that means it’s good. Exactly the opposite meaning, just by adding the definite article. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/65 "2010-06-27T12:57:30Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > ‘Peruse’ formerly meant ‘to use up completely’ or ‘to read carefully’ (They may not necessarily be related, but the first no doubt influenced the second). Nowadays it usually means ‘to read casually or cursorlly’. Weirdly, “scan” has undergone almost exactly the same shift in meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/66 "2010-06-27T13:24:30Z")
“Prevent” started out as meaning “get there first” (_praevenire_) with no sense of stopping something from happening. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/67 "2010-06-27T14:15:39Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > “Sanction” > > “Table,” as a verb… does it mean to put something up for consideration or to disregard it? If you table a bill in Parliament, you are proposing it for consideration. If, in a public meeting, a resolution is tabled, it is postponed from consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/68 "2010-06-27T18:30:49Z")
Scruples. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/69 "2010-06-27T18:54:34Z")
That Shaft is one **bad** mother… ---
**Author:** ![Cato\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cato\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cato_Major)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/70 "2010-06-27T21:28:27Z")
‘Nervous’ once meant sinewy, brawny, strong. Now it means anxious, timid, jumpy. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/71 "2010-06-27T21:39:24Z")
[Nauseous](http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=nauseous) has changed its meaning over the years. It doesn’t quite mean the opposite of what it used to, but according to the old meaning if I am nauseous then I will (probably) make \*\*you \*\*nauseated (e.g. if I have a particularly grotesque zit on the end of my nose I might be nauseous and make you nauseated). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/72 "2010-06-28T00:23:17Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > If you table a bill in Parliament, you are proposing it for consideration. If, in a public meeting, a resolution is tabled, it is postponed from consideration. Churchill mentions in his WWII memoirs that the American usage of “table” as a verb differs from the British usage, along the lines **matt** mentions. There was a meeting of high-ranking military officers from the US and the UK, and there was a specific proposal under consideration. The British officers suggested that the proposal be tabled (i.e. - they thought it was a good proposal that warranted further discussion and possibly action). The American officers got upset by the British motion, because they also thought it was a good proposal, and couldn’t understand why the British officers were proposing that it be put off indefinitely. There was some heated discussion, until it dawned on them that they all agreed that the proposal had merits and should be discussed - they were just fighting over the different meanings of “table”. :smack: “Two nations divided by a common language.” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/73 "2010-06-28T00:56:34Z")
[Wikipedia’s list of contranyms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto-antonyms_in_English), there are quite a few. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/74 "2010-06-28T01:00:48Z")
“Purchase” originally meant “pursue.” Then it meant “to seize by forceful means” (such as booty in wartime). Now it means “to obtain in a commercial transaction in exchange for legal tender.” (It also means “to maintain a position by use of force.”) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/75 "2010-06-28T02:23:45Z")
“Could.” As in “I could care less,” meaning “I couldn’t care less.” I remember when it was said sarcastically, sometime in the 60s or 70s. Now it’s said as a simple statement. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/76 "2010-06-28T02:29:00Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > But that actually _ **works** _, though, because if you assume that each person weighs a mere 100 lbs, that comes out to 20 people = 1 ton of people. “Literally” _ **tons** _ of people could still easily be less than 100 people. Just speaking both “literally” and “figuratively”, here, of course… 😃 I really did mean I was speaking literally 🙂 My apologies for giving up on this but it it seems like to much circular arguing to me. I still feel when someone uses literally as an intensifier they are using it incorrectly and it means the opposite of what they are saying. As far as I know ‘literally’ is the only word we have that means ‘I am not using hyperbole’ and we have thousands of other words that can be used as hyperbole, so I feel justified in being annoyed at it’s misuse. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/77 "2010-06-28T03:02:29Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Wow that _is_ confusing, especially as, these days, gay girls tend to be the ones who are more likely to be more like boys. 😛 > > (I am not sure I believe it, though. I would like to see a proper cite.). The OED has “a child of either sex; a young person” as the first (meaning oldest, not commonest) meaning, with cites from 1300, and notes that it was used “chiefly in pl.”. The last cite is from 1475. It notes the female sense of girl with cites from 1375, and suggests that ‘gay girl’ (and ‘little girl’) are elaborations of this sense. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/78 "2010-06-28T03:22:10Z")
> [@Anachronism](#): > > My apologies for giving up on this but it it seems like to much circular arguing to me. I still feel when someone uses literally as an intensifier they are using it incorrectly and it means the opposite of what they are saying. > > As far as I know ‘literally’ is the only word we have that means ‘I am not using hyperbole’ and we have thousands of other words that can be used as hyperbole, so I feel justified in being annoyed at it’s misuse. That is fair enough. The point I (and I think the others who piled in on this) was making was that “literally” is never, in fact, used to mean “figuratively” (its opposite). It is used as a general purpose intensifier. That is not to say that there is not a real problem with the intensificatory use of “literally.” This is because the word is still widely used in its original sense, and it is likely to continue to be so used (because, as **Anachronism** says, there is really no alternative). When, as is often the case, “literally” is used to intensify a figurative expression, it introduces a real possibility of ambiguity. Usually you can tell by context, but there are cases when it can be hard to tell whether we have a hyperbolic figure being intensified to make it even more hyperbolic, or whether it really is meant literally. Sometimes people will say “literally literally” to clarify this point, but it hardly seems very satisfactory (and I suspect “literally literally” is already begining to take on an intensifier sense itself). So, by all means feel free to complain about the intensifier sense of “literally” as potential degradation of the language. Prescriptivism does have its place. But please, people, stop saying that “literally” is used to mean “figuratively.” That is not true, and the joke (that some people do not even seem to realize is a joke) has now become very stale and boring. **UDS** : Yes i checked the OED myself, and you and **mittu** are right. It mentions “knave girl” for “boy” also. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/79 "2010-06-28T04:45:10Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > That is fair enough. The point I (and I think the others who piled in on this) was making was that “literally” is never, in fact, used to mean “figuratively” (its opposite). It is used as a general purpose intensifier. I agree. “Literally,” when used in that manner, does _not_ mean “figuratively.” It’s a deliberate overstatement that, with the aid of context, is understood as a hyperbolic/intensifier. “I could figuratively eat a horse” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? By calling attention to the overstatement, you’re diminishing its rhetorical impact. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624/80 "2010-06-28T05:40:57Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > gay Different meaning, yes . . . but opposite? :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-words-that-have-come-to-mean-the-exact-opposite-of-their-original-meaning/544624.md?page=5)