4 ms·

Great list! My favorite is on it. The verb "sanction" is my "favorite" since the two meanings are both political and totally opposite. If you just read "the Un

Great list! My favorite is on it. The verb "sanction" is my "favorite" since the two meanings are both political and totally opposite. If you just read "the United States sanctioned the action" you have literally no idea if it means they expressly allowed it, no problem go right ahead, or if it means they were so mad they did something negative in response, oh, we're punishing you for that. I would say you can't even use the word for that reason.

bandrami 7y ago
Because of oversight, the activity was sanctioned. I love how that sentence yields 4 possible meanings.
- ScottBurson 7y ago
  I think the two meanings of "oversight" are not quite interchangeable. One is a mass noun (used without an article): "better oversight is needed"; while the other is a count noun (used with an article): "it was an oversight". So "because of oversight" sounds odd to me; I think it would be "because of an oversight", which would unambiguously indicate the "error" sense.
  - afiler 7y ago
    "The activity was sanctioned because of the oversight" seems to work for me with both meanings of 'oversight'
    - ScottBurson 7y ago
      Ah, very good.
pure-awesome 7y ago
Honestly, usage of the word "sanction" should just be sanctioned.
- kjhughes 7y ago
  So you sanction that 'sanction' be sanctioned?
- lonelappde 7y ago
  It is.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
gumby 7y ago
The contradictory meaning of "sanction" is very recent and dates to the 90s (referring to trade restrictions on Iraq). Because it's so new it really annoys me (as opposed to, say, cleave). When I hear it I still hear as it was used: we (was it the UN? US? I can no longer remember) sanction your restricting trade with this other country. Which on TV was abbreviated/blurred and thus within only a couple of years the standalone term had acquired the new meaning! So at least to me your sentence seems clear: I don't feel like the meaning has changed quite as much as you do. But since you interpret it that way: perhaps I am wrong! It's a shame the google ngram tool only consults text. TV is a rich source of neologisms.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Merriam Webster says you are off by a few hundred years: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanction https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanction
  - gumby 7y ago
    I was excited to look up and see what I had gotten wrong but I don't see it in that entry. It lists the "first uses" as being definition 1 of noun and verb, i.e. precisely my example (UN sanction on restriction of trade). They do quote (the wonderful) Molly Ivins, who passed away in 2007.
- interfixus 7y ago
  Older then that. I remember discussing the word and its opposed interpretations in my student days back in the seventies. This was in Danish, but same word ('sanktion'), same meanings.
  - schoen 7y ago
    I guess the history of this auto-antonym is that in Latin, it refers to a decree or rule—which could potentially be a decree allowing something, or a decree forbidding something.

bandrami 7y ago

Because of oversight, the activity was sanctioned. I love how that sentence yields 4 possible meanings.

ScottBurson 7y ago
I think the two meanings of "oversight" are not quite interchangeable. One is a mass noun (used without an article): "better oversight is needed"; while the other is a count noun (used with an article): "it was an oversight". So "because of oversight" sounds odd to me; I think it would be "because of an oversight", which would unambiguously indicate the "error" sense.
- afiler 7y ago
  "The activity was sanctioned because of the oversight" seems to work for me with both meanings of 'oversight'
  - ScottBurson 7y ago
    Ah, very good.

pure-awesome 7y ago

Honestly, usage of the word "sanction" should just be sanctioned.

kjhughes 7y ago
So you sanction that 'sanction' be sanctioned?
lonelappde 7y ago
It is.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

gumby 7y ago

The contradictory meaning of "sanction" is very recent and dates to the 90s (referring to trade restrictions on Iraq). Because it's so new it really annoys me (as opposed to, say, cleave). When I hear it I still hear as it was used: we (was it the UN? US? I can no longer remember) sanction your restricting trade with this other country. Which on TV was abbreviated/blurred and thus within only a couple of years the standalone term had acquired the new meaning! So at least to me your sentence seems clear: I don't feel like the meaning has changed quite as much as you do. But since you interpret it that way: perhaps I am wrong! It's a shame the google ngram tool only consults text. TV is a rich source of neologisms.

lonelappde 7y ago
Merriam Webster says you are off by a few hundred years: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanction https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanction
- gumby 7y ago
  I was excited to look up and see what I had gotten wrong but I don't see it in that entry. It lists the "first uses" as being definition 1 of noun and verb, i.e. precisely my example (UN sanction on restriction of trade). They do quote (the wonderful) Molly Ivins, who passed away in 2007.
interfixus 7y ago
Older then that. I remember discussing the word and its opposed interpretations in my student days back in the seventies. This was in Danish, but same word ('sanktion'), same meanings.
- schoen 7y ago
  I guess the history of this auto-antonym is that in Latin, it refers to a decree or rule—which could potentially be a decree allowing something, or a decree forbidding something.