I suspect 'those men look suspicious' is actually a misuse of the word that has become so common as to be accepted.
― rhythm fixated member (chap), Thursday, 2 September 2010 15:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Like 'suspicious behaviour' should probably be 'behaviour arousing suspicion'.
― rhythm fixated member (chap), Thursday, 2 September 2010 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link
cf. sceptical/dubious - "I am sceptical, that is dubious", not "I am dubious".
― ledge, Thursday, 2 September 2010 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link
sus·pi·cious
1 : tending to arouse suspicion : questionable <suspicious characters>2 : disposed to suspect : distrustful <suspicious of strangers>3 : expressing or indicative of suspicion <a suspicious glance>
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 2 September 2010 15:26 (thirteen years ago) link
suspicious "deserving of or exciting suspicion," mid-14c., from O.Fr. suspecious, from L. suspiciosus "exciting suspicion". Meaning "full of or inclined to feel suspicion" is attested from c.1400. Edgar Allan Poe (c.1845) proposed suspectful to take one of the two conflicting senses.
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 2 September 2010 15:32 (thirteen years ago) link
overlook!
― Arvo Pärty (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Specifically:1.a. To look over or at from a higher place.b. To rise above, especially so as to afford a view over: The tower overlooks the sea.
2.a. To fail to notice or consider; miss.b. To ignore deliberately or indulgently; disregard.
3. To look over; examine.
4. To watch over; oversee. See Synonyms at supervise.
― Arvo Pärty (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
ay, that's a good one
― shorn_blond.avi (dayo), Thursday, 2 September 2010 23:46 (thirteen years ago) link
behaviour.
― Mark G, Friday, 3 September 2010 08:07 (thirteen years ago) link
graft
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, 13 August 2012 09:21 (eleven years ago) link
dense
"he could not understand the dense text because he was too dense"
― EDB, Monday, 13 August 2012 09:49 (eleven years ago) link
mmmm not buying that one - both mean something like "impenetrable"
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, 13 August 2012 09:52 (eleven years ago) link
the buffalo buffalo etc
― Mark G, Monday, 13 August 2012 09:55 (eleven years ago) link
screen. to show (e.g. a film) & to hide.
― ledge, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 08:22 (eleven years ago) link
good one!
― contenderizer, Wednesday, 22 August 2012 08:24 (eleven years ago) link
patronise. makes me chuckle whenever it's used in the "get cash from" sense.
― give me back my 200 dollars (NotEnough), Wednesday, 22 August 2012 11:12 (eleven years ago) link
literally
― 乒乓, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 02:46 (ten years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym
You're talking about the common misuse of "literally" as "not literally", right? I don't think it officially has contradictory meanings?
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 08:50 (ten years ago) link
let's ask the dictionary tsar
http://img1.etsystatic.com/008/0/8111024/il_570xN.472319187_3qwm.jpg
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 08:55 (ten years ago) link
No-one's said my favourite one – fuse
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 09:54 (ten years ago) link
siren
― conrad, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 06:54 (ten years ago) link
repress
― koogs, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 08:41 (ten years ago) link
was there a brief period in the 60s when "uptight" meant "cool"?
cf the stevie wonder song. why does he say "uptight" there??
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 June 2017 19:23 (six years ago) link
adumbrate
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 14 June 2017 19:30 (six years ago) link
Re: 'uptight,' a quick search unearthed this, from Tom Dalzell's Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang:
Uptight was another term meaning "very good," a very different connotation than that attached to the word in the hippie slang (inhibited) which survived at the expense of the mainstream meaning. The mainstream meaning was exemplified in the lyrics of a hit song by Little Stevie Wonder …
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 14 June 2017 19:37 (six years ago) link
From context I always thought that uptight represented the life with the girl from the right side of the tracks with the butlers and maids. He has loose shabby clothes because he's poor. But he loves her and is happy about her and her uptight square world. That's just been what I've been going on.
― how's life, Wednesday, 14 June 2017 19:43 (six years ago) link
Warhol & the Velvet Underground used "Up-Tight" in the cool sense in '66 as well (same year as the Stevie Wonder song). It is unusual how quickly and totally that word switched. Bet you don't find many positive "uptight"s after '67 even.
― Josefa, Wednesday, 14 June 2017 20:41 (six years ago) link
fuck the word "sanction". it always throws me when I read it in an article. contradictory as both a noun and a verb!
― Vinnie, Thursday, 15 June 2017 01:41 (six years ago) link
Refute:
1 : to prove wrong by argument or evidence : show to be false or erroneous2 : to deny the truth or accuracy of - "refuted the allegations"― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, February 27, 2018 8:04 AM
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, February 27, 2018 8:04 AM
#2 is new and insane to me.
― mick signals, Tuesday, 27 February 2018 15:12 (six years ago) link
contemporary!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
anxious
― Fantasy Eyelid (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 13:57 (five years ago) link
how so
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 14:39 (five years ago) link
contemporary means at the same time as, so probably gives the info from context whether its contemporary to the subject or contemporary to the present time doesn't it?
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 14:42 (five years ago) link
Yes - in fact that is the case with every word listed here!
However, "Contemporary art" does not change its meaning depending on context as far as I'm aware
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 15:33 (five years ago) link
incense as a noun vs. incense as a verb
― Choose Your Own Disaster (Old Lunch), Saturday, 23 February 2019 20:25 (five years ago) link
sensibility
― Goody Rickels on the Dime (Old Lunch), Monday, 18 March 2019 13:57 (five years ago) link
OL i will confess that i can't puzzle out your last three contributions itt
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 18 March 2019 15:51 (five years ago) link
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/anxious
makes the anxious one quite clear - worried / eager
― koogs, Monday, 18 March 2019 16:12 (five years ago) link
id have to disagree with ascribing intent to the word like that tbh
to whom does one write
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Monday, 18 March 2019 16:31 (five years ago) link
The two usages of 'incense' aren't directly contradictory but the noun has a pleasant connotation (generally speaking, as I know not everyone is a nag champa stan) as opposed to the negative connotation of the verb form.
OTOH I probably should've said 'sensible' (reasonable vs. given over to feeling) rather than 'sensibility'.
― Goody Rickels on the Dime (Old Lunch), Monday, 18 March 2019 16:32 (five years ago) link
Brexit
― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 18 March 2019 16:35 (five years ago) link
ha
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Monday, 18 March 2019 16:36 (five years ago) link
anxious meaning "eager" - yes but there's still anxiety in that negative sense - the eagerness is manifesting as a kind of nervous stressincense - at root it's the same: fieriness
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 09:48 (five years ago) link
"bottle" in the British sense has two directly contradictory meanings. the noun means "courage" and the verb means to lose your nerve!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 09:49 (five years ago) link
checks out
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 10:04 (five years ago) link
"but what about the Irish sense" i hear you seething
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 10:55 (five years ago) link
Does the verb form suggesting violence done with a bottle entail more courage or cowardice, I wonder
― Goody Rickels on the Dime (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 11:55 (five years ago) link
More contents of bottles usually
― Helel Cool J (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 12:16 (five years ago) link
"dutch courage" originally referred to that nationality's predilection to glassing in an otherwise honourable brawl
― fremme nette his simplicitte (darraghmac), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 12:21 (five years ago) link