contronymy

From contronym +‎ -y; also, by surface analysis, contr(a)- +‎ -onymy.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈtɹɑn.ə.mi/, /kənˈtɹɒn.ə.mi/
• Rhymes: -ɒnəmi

contronymy (uncountable)

1. The quality of being a contranym or including contranyms.

   Alternative form: contranymy

   Synonyms: antilogy, autoantonymy, enantionymy

   Near-synonym: enantiosemy

   • 2008, BI Karaman, “On contronymy”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 21, number 2:

     Contronymy, a phenomenon which has received much attention in recent years, has often been described as sense opposition at the micro-level.

   • 2011, Tony Thorne, The 100 Words That Make The English, →ISBN:

     Today the same word can mean 'wholly', 'to a considerable extent' ('Quite the little madam, aren't we?') or '(only) to some extent', 'partially' or 'somewhat' ('feeling quite tired'), though theoretical linguists explain this slightly differently: 'At the micro-level the lexical unit represents a case for contronymy of antonymy type if it can be subjected to gradation and if it comprises at least two senses which are contradictory within one aspect.'

   • 2013, Hye Seung Lee, “Semantics of COM”, in Selected Papers from the Seventeenth College-Wide Conference for Students in Languages, Linguistics, & Literature:

     Kronasser (1952) and Meid (1979) argue that language change results in the occurrence of contronymy in natural language.