Awfully & Terribly

[solost]

And a person or thing can be awfully pretty, meaning extremely pleasing to the eye, or pretty awful, meaning somewhat bad. English is fun!

I like words that mean their own opposites. Like ‘overlook’ which can mean ‘did not see’ or ‘make sure to see’, as in ‘scenic overlook’.

Here’s a recent thread from about a year and a half ago on words that mean their own opposite that the OP may find interesting:

Words that are their own opposites

I’ve long been interested in words that have multiple, contradictory meanings. In English, one of the best known is “sanction,” which can mean either to punish or to approve. “Cleave” means either to split apart or to cling to. However, I did not realize that there are so many of these words.