Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with antonym

Suffix for opposite of -genic (photogenic)

lrivers — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:43:42 -0800

There's a suffix that's the opposite of "-genic" (as in "photogenic"). What is it? I read it somewhere, I know I did, but I can't find it anywhere, despite my strong google-fu.

Usage: "I say, old man, you're looking photo(mumble) today"

What was that MeFi antonym post?

xmattxfx — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:05:51 -0800

Does anyone remember that Metafilter post a while (maybe a long while) back that IIRC told a story using uncommon antonyms? "Uncommon antonyms" is the best way I can describe it. For example, using "dulates" instead of "undulates". Searching Metafilter for "antonym" didn't produce the post and I can't think of a better search term.

Antonym for 'anhedonia'

cadastral — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:25:21 -0800

If "anhedonia" is an inability to get pleasure from pleasurable experiences, is there a word or concept that describes an inability (or a diminished capacity) to be saddened by experiences usually considered "sad"? Trying to stay away from things that also imply, like, 'mania'. In the same way that 'anhedonia' maintains its own separate identity from 'depression', I'd like the word or concept I'm asking for to be separate from mania.

Examples from literature or other media might also be helpful. Many thanks.

"Literally" is its own antonym! How can this be?

Faint of Butt — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:44:19 -0800

Thanks to a derail in this thread, I have learned that Merriam-Webster now believes that "literally" also means "virtually." This has shaken me to the core, and seems to be evidence of the English language being irrevocably broken. I beg you to ease my soul and prove this isn't true by giving me evidence of other English words that, over time, have come to mean their own antonyms.

An antonym for "loophole"

hank — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 15:39:01 -0800

Wanted: an antonym for "loophole." Yes, I've spent an hour or more on Google. Sense needed: Where a loophole is an ambiguity in a law or regulation that, like a knothole in a plank, allows something to get through that should have been stopped. The term I'm looking for would describe this:

-- a state corporate/business code/law/regulation that exempts the owner/manager/director from almost all personal responsibility/liability for the actions of the business -- but that has one remaining offense for which, if the business gets convicted, the state court may hold the owner, manager or director personally liable.

The sense is one plank of the fence left standing; one tooth left in the watchdog's mouth, or something like that. It's scary where Google leads, looking for this -- into the history of how laws are made with great fanfare then eroded and dismantled and undercut to where they accomplish almost nothing.

The opposite of indent

Danelope — Wed, 12 May 2004 20:45:29 -0800

The opposite of indent is __________:
A. unindent
B. outdent
C. dedent
D. I can locate no firm etymological basis for any of the above Err...Option A should go here, though "outdent" produces the most hits on Google. Unfortunately, Google also produces 278,000 hits for "virii", so it clearly cannot be relied upon as an arbiter of linguistic matters.

Does the word "paranoid" have an antonym?

mgtrott — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:11:19 -0800

Does the word "paranoid" have an antonym? In other words, can there be a one-word opposite of paranoid? My guess is no since it's a defined clinical state; however since it's used casually, has an antonym evolved?