# Words You Think Mean the Opposite **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725 "2011-03-15T01:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/1 "2011-03-15T01:17:21Z")
Title says it all. What words does your mind tell you something means even if you know it’s the opposite? For me, it’s dearth. I know it means a lack of something, but my mind always wants to jump to it meaning plenty of something. Drives me crazy and makes it hard to read sentences using it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/2 "2011-03-15T01:20:52Z")
For years, I had the same trouble with “opaque,” but I think I’ve finally trained myself out of thinking its a synonym for “transparent.” ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/3 "2011-03-15T01:25:31Z")
“Preceding”, especially when there were TV spots that said “the preceding message was brought to you by Major League Baseball”. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/4 "2011-03-15T01:41:40Z")
Building get razed when they are torn down? But the Amish have barn raisings when they finish building a new barn? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/5 "2011-03-15T02:39:31Z")
INflamable means FLAMABLE!!?! ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/6 "2011-03-15T02:42:38Z")
Penultimate means second, I eventually realized. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/7 "2011-03-15T02:51:36Z")
“Spendthrift” sounds like it describes someone who is thrifty. Quite the opposite, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/8 "2011-03-15T02:54:11Z")
Not quite per the OP, but the phrase “discovered to be missing” makes me want to run from the building screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/9 "2011-03-15T03:12:30Z")
“Sanction.” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/10 "2011-03-15T03:14:29Z")
I get confused with “dearth” sometimes, too. Also, “nonplussed.” It means confused or at a loss but I always think of it as meaning someone who just doesn’t care. Or like, an adjective form of, “Meh, whatever.” Maybe I’m getting it mixed up with “nonchalant”? ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/11 "2011-03-15T03:26:12Z")
Sanguine sounds to me as though it should mean cool and calm when it means quite the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/12 "2011-03-15T03:44:28Z")
Third me for “dearth”. I get confused with “dubious”. It sounds prestigious doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/13 "2011-03-15T04:00:35Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Penultimate means second, I eventually realized. No, it means the exact opposite. It means second-to-last. Joe ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/14 "2011-03-15T04:18:20Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > No, it means the exact opposite. It means second-to-last. > > Joe Of course, you’re right. I most always heard it used as “the penultimate of the season” and I thought it meant last, until a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/15 "2011-03-15T04:23:08Z")
> [@manila](#): > > Sanguine sounds to me as though it should mean cool and calm when it means quite the opposite. How is “cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident” the opposite of cool and calm? ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/16 "2011-03-15T04:33:51Z")
Enervate sounds as if it should mean the same thing as energize. Doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cardinal\_fang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal_fang/32/15316_2.png) [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/17 "2011-03-15T05:04:56Z")
“Fitful,” when describing a night’s sleep. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/18 "2011-03-15T06:21:14Z")
> [@cardinal\_fang](#): > > “Fitful,” when describing a night’s sleep. I bet you don’t like [restive](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/restive) either 🙂 Dearth is also the word I have the most trouble with. I always have to ask myself if it means excessive amounts or not enough. Decadence, on the other hand, is the one I find the most confusing. How can a word that means excessive self indulgence also mean falling into a state of decay? I can see how the former could contribute to the latter, but it’s weird to use the same word for both. ---
**Author:** ![yams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/19 "2011-03-15T06:57:45Z")
Crepuscular can be used to describe things that are associated with twilight (the time, not the movie), but really it should be used to describe purulent, festering wounds. love yams!! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725/20 "2011-03-15T09:30:54Z")
I always thought **epitome** meant the most outstanding example of something but it means a perfectly average example of something. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-think-mean-the-opposite/574725.md?page=2)