Webster's dictionary gives these:
awesome: ...2)inspiring awe. Not given is the slang use, which means great, sort of.
awful: 1)inspiring awe. ...3)extremely disagreeable or objectional.
So, we have an example of two words which are both synonyms (in a sense) and antonyms (in a sense).
Now, slang usually uses words in an anti-literal way. ('bad'
But I thought, until now, that being awesome was a good thing, having NOTHING to do with fear and dread, until....(see next paragraph.)
Now, I have noticed, related to this, that nowhere in the definition of 'awe' is there anything about it meaning 'inspirational (in a good way)'. But I think that people use it this way (and before the slang use came about). 'Awe' only refers to, according to the dictionary, dread, fear, and inspiring of dread and fear. (I guess that religion comes into this whole thing's history at some point.)
Anyway, even aside from slang, many words are missused in our common-use language, even to the point of meaning their opposite. ('Ironic' being an appropriate example, in my opinion.)
2 questions really:
Give some more examples of words which are both synonyms and antonyms (by the dictionary's definitions).
Give some examples of words where the commonly-understood definitions are NOT the same as the dictionary-definition (not necessarily in an *ironic* sense).
Thanks, Leroy Quet
