Wednesday, February 16, 2011

 

Fearful Auto-Antonyms

Liddell and Scott define φοβερός (phoberós) as both "causing fear, terrible" and "afraid, timid."

Lewis and Short define formidulosus as both "producing fear, dreadful, terrible, terrific" and "experiencing fear, afraid, timid, timorous."

The Oxford English Dictionary defines fearful as both "causing fear; inspiring terror, reverence, or awe; dreadful, terrible, awful" and "frightened, timorous, timid, apprehensive."

All are auto-antonyms, words that can mean the opposite of themselves.

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