You can trim a tree by cutting branches off it, or by putting ornaments on it. Taking off, or adding to.
Not quite. A moot point is a point no longer worth debating, which isn’t quite the same.
I beg to differ, for the same reason you write ‘Their Majesties’ and not ‘Their majesties’.
According to Wikipedia, such words are “auto-antonyms” or contronyms, and Wikipedia has a list of such words (although some only fit the definition loosely).
Beg all you want, it remains a style choice and one that I choose against.
“Quite” is close: it can mean “definitely and firmly” or “somewhat”.
In the English system, dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons are all “Peers of the Realm.” In any reference that implies the title is denied to “lesser nobles”, the “lesser nobles” would be baronets, lords of the manor or knights. (I won’t give a specific cite for this; I think Googling “Peer of the Realm” and clicking any of the results will give this answer. Please post any cite that disagrees.)
And no British noble is a “peer” of the monarch. Again, I wonder where that idea came from. And while monarchial power waxed and waned in England, the only instances that come to mind where the Monarch was not most powerful are a few cases where he was weak, young, or fighting war.
And if you count homonyms: raze and raise.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a thread in which more posters apparently haven’t.
Thank you for confirming my sanity. I nearly convinced myself that I was missing something.
There are some words that are their own antonyms, and other pairs of words that look like antonyms but are actually synonyms.
To quote Dr. Nick Riviera, after lighting a cigarette in a bad location: “IN-flammable means the same thing as flammable? What a country!”
And a newly added member of the list.
Literally-1 : in a literal sense or manner : actually
Literally-2 : in effect : virtually