I’ve recently noticed words that are negations, but the corresponding unnegated words have fallen out of common use. Words like:
ruthless
reckless
feckless
heedless
inept
incorrigible
It’s rare to see their opposites. What are some more words like this?
I would say defenestrate, but fenestrate is a word. It doesn’t mean the opposite, though.
I think heed is still quite common, at least as a verb:
He did not heed the warning signs.
Even as a noun, it’s not that rare:
He took heed of the warnings.
Disgruntled. I’ve heard people use ‘gruntled’, but only as a joke.
Ditto uncouth. Couth is a joke word.
You can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but few are simply whelmed.
Also, programmers sometimes use “underflow” as the opposite of “overflow”, especially in relation to stacks. An underflow occurs when you attempt to take something out of something that is empty.
I overstand.
Uncanny. Canny is another of the joke words.
I regularly use gruntled, usually after a meal. Feck is often used as an alternative to fuck, usually to indicate that the utterer is Irish. And isn’t an antithesis of inept apt?
The observant reader will have noted that tithesis is an incorrect formulation: antithesis is anti + thesis. So the antithesis of antithesis is thesis.
These are known as lost positives.
I’m from the North-East of England. Canny is often used. It is a multi-purpose wonder of a word and it does (or can) get used as the opposite of “uncanny”
Thanks for the reply.
According to the online dictionary Canny means cagey or shrewd, Uncanny means eerie or mysterious. So (just to nitpick) I don’t think they are opposites.
Canny is unusual, but still used.
Inert? Never heard of anything described as “ert”.
With regard to “ruthless”, there’s a Milton poem that includes the line,’ “Look homeward Angel and melt with ruth”, so “ruth” as a word meaning compassion was in use at one time.
In the north-eastern dialect, “Canny” can also mean “good” or “fine”, normal or even superb, depending on context. That’s the usage I’d see as being opposite.
And as well as your above definition, it can also mean miserly.
The opposite of ruthless is ruthful
The opposite of heedless is heedful
Both fairly common words.
Take care looking for the opposite of flammable.
Heedful is pretty common (Chrome’s dictionary recognises it for a start!), usually as heedful of X; I cannot say the same for ruthful - I don’t recall ever seeing it in print.
I’ve never seen “ruthful” used before your post.
noninflammable 