Contronyms are more are less meaningless without a context. Left in uninformed isolation, they implode in confusing self-contradiction. And yet, they are widely used, not for what they mean, but for what they wish them to mean.
There are 100 or so official contronyms in the English language. They remind us that context can determine or even disturb our certainty about a meaning of a word.
In this video, presenter Frederick Tamagi sheds some light on how contronyms can cause confusion in communication.
