# What Other Words that Seem to Negate Each Other, Are Actually Synonyms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329 "2002-06-16T07:02:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/21 "2002-06-17T01:06:14Z")
Tangent alert! I heard the same thing described as “blown down and burned up” by one speaker and “blown up and burned down” by another. Perhaps up and down DO mean the same thing in certain circumstances… ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/22 "2002-06-17T01:06:14Z")
Tangent alert! I heard the same thing described as “blown down and burned up” by one speaker and “blown up and burned down” by another. Perhaps up and down DO mean the same thing in certain circumstances… ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/23 "2002-06-17T02:40:44Z")
sanction (= to approve)/sanction (= to prohibit or limit or censure, or something) ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/24 "2002-06-17T02:44:57Z")
oops. I see I have completely misunderstood the OP. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/25 "2002-06-17T02:55:12Z")
disgruntled and gruntled? And as _Cleops’s_ take on this: **oversight** - a mistake **oversight (as in _oversight_ committee)** - to examine to make sure mistakes aren’t made. ---
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/26 "2002-06-17T05:36:13Z")
What about when a word is its own antonym? Seed: to remove seeds, as from fruit Seed: to apply seeds, as to a lawn ---
**Author:** ![jbird3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@jbird3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbird3000)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/27 "2002-06-17T06:06:24Z")
Slow up and slow down. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/28 "2002-06-17T09:58:22Z")
The OP didn’t ask for words which sound the same, but with different meanings. Though this phenomemon is interesting too. Richard Lederer in his book _Crazy English_ refers to them as Janus-faced words, after the two-faced Roman god Janus, since they could look both ways. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/29 "2002-06-17T11:53:05Z")
Used as verbs, best and worst. `I bested him in the fight` and `I worsted him in the fight` both have exactly the same meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/30 "2002-06-17T15:44:07Z")
_To sanction_, meaning to permit or to approve, but _sanction_ as in U.N. sanctions against Iraq. Not exact opposites, of course, but certainly very different in attitude. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329/31 "2002-06-17T15:58:00Z")
Their own opposites: “Fast” - to be quick or to not move at all. If you “advance” the date for a future event, it may mean to postpone it or to plan on it happening sooner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-words-that-seem-to-negate-each-other-are-actually-synonyms/114329.md?page=1)