List some (near) synonyms that, in form, appear to be antonyms (e.g., "flammable" and "inflammable").

Additional material

[ Editor: a November 1997 rec.puzzles thread "Opposites with the same
meaning", mostly about phrases. ]

Someone went to the trouble once of inventing a word for a word that
spells the same in reverse.

Does anyone know if there's a word for words that appear opposite but
actually mean the same thing ?  For example:-

Marriage breakdown
Marriage breakup

Can anyone think of other examples ?

-- Martin Rigden <mrigden@aol.com>

Flammable, inflammable.

ObPuzzle:  what do you do with a tree after you cut it down?

-- Nick Wedd <nick@maproom.demon.co.uk>

And, if you did it with a chainsaw early on Saturday morning, what might
your neighbor tell you to do?

-- Matthew Daly <mwdaly@kodak.com>

How about "legally intoxicated" and "illegally intoxicated"?

-- Mike Naylor

Slim chance and fat chance is a good one.

Also: quite a lot and quite a few.

There are also words that appear the same but are actually opposite:
eg overlook and oversee, or wise man and wise guy.

-- Adam G. Unikowsky <mdui@musica.mcgill.ca>

uptown
downtown

-- soen <soen@pacbell.net>

shelled nuts
unshelled nuts

both mean nuts with out a shell

actually one might play with sarcasm as in
"That was a real smart thing you did" (said sarcastically meaning
stupid)

... and now lets look at some ebonics :)
That is bad (meaning good)
You are dope stupid (meaning smart)
etc etc etc

Othe slang
that is real Hot (meaning now and happening)
that is so Cool (meaning now and happening)

-- Bruce Goldman <mock@juno.com>

[ Editor: the following list follows Goldman's posting in the collected
file without an attribution. ]

loose, unloose
ravel, unravel
annul, disannul
shameful, shameless
have a temper, lose a temper

[ Editor: Mark Brader's comments, in mail to Chris Cole of October 1993,
on a draft of the list in this entry.  RHU is the Random House
Unabridged Dictionary. ]

> Got it.  What do you think of this list:

Interesting idea!

> abuse-disabuse

Huh?  These are in no way near-synonyms.

> advise-disadvise

2nd not in the RHU.  If it means to advise someone not to do something,
I'd call it marginal.

> calescent-incalescent
> candescent-incandescent

Good ones.  I hadn't heard of either of the first pair until I looked
them up.  There will probably be additional ones with in- because of
its use (as here) as an intensifier.

> claim-disclaim

Huh?  Disclaim *is* an antonym of a sense of claim, and there are no
near-synonymous senses.

> color-discolor

Okay.

> flammable-inflammable

Good.

> genius-ingenius

2nd not in the RHU.

> habited-inhabited

Okay, but archaic/obsolete according to RHU.

> habitable-inhabitable
> heritable-inheritable

Good.

> illusionary-disillusionary

2nd not in the RHU, and I can't imagine how it would have a
near-synonymous meaning with the other.

> limit-delimit

Good -- and doesn't use "in-" either!

> lineate-delineate

RHU lists 1st only as adj., 2nd only as v., thus not possibly
synonymous

> loosen-unloosen

Good.

> merge-immerge

These do not look like antonyms.  Prefix in- meaning "not" does not
normally occur with verbs.  (Can you think of any examples?)  However,
mergence and immergence works (and both are in RHU).

> nude-denude

RHU lists 1st only as adj./n., 2nd only as v., thus not possible
synonymous

> passive-impassive

Poor.  Senses not very close.

> prove-disprove

Antonyms!

> ravel-unravel
> rupture-disrupture

Good.

> scribe-inscribe

These do not look like antonyms; see above.  I can't think of any
derived forms which do either; note that they would have to have
Latinate endings.

> section-dissection
> sever-dissever
> spoil-despoil
> valuable-invaluable

All good.

We might add closure-inclosure, flection-inflection, sight-insight,
file-defile (to march in a line), and mark-demark.

-- Mark Brader <msb@sq.com>