Sunday, 30 August 2015

single word requests - Is there a name for synonyms that appear to have opposite meanings?

The words flammable and inflammable mean the same thing, but (to someone unfamiliar with their meaning) appear to be opposites (because of the "in" prefix). Is there a name for such word pairs that appear to be opposites but actually mean the same thing?



A few other examples are ravel/unravel, regardless/irregardless, radiation/irradiation, incite/excite, culpatory/inculpatory, press/depress, to/unto, part/depart, fat chance/slim chance, thaw/dethaw/unthaw, candescent/ incandescent, canny/uncanny, dead/undead, write up/write down, valuable/invaluable

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