I’m looking for a word

28 12 2009

Let me throw this out to massive (well, two dozen or so) reader base: is there a term for a word that has a seldom-used but perfectly acceptable antonym?  For example, you never hear about the gruntled postal worker or the vincible warships, but those are actual words that exist; gruntled meaning happy or content, vincible meaning…well, the opposite of invincible, think HMS Hood at the Battle of Jutland.

There’s gotta be a term for this kind of word but I can’t find it.  Any clues?

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One response

29 12 2009
Scott Rudi

After a quick search, I think they’re called “Unpaired words”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaired_word

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