Find a pair of English words each of which can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb such that:
- as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, they're opposite in meaning
- as verbs, they have the same meaning
(I'm pretty sure the answer to this is unique.)
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Sign up to join this communityFind a pair of English words each of which can be a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb such that:
(I'm pretty sure the answer to this is unique.)
My answer is:
Best and Worst.
Explanation:
As verbs, they both mean to "get the better of" or "defeat" someone.
As nouns, adverbs, and adjectives, they are clearly opposite.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/best?s=t
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/worst?s=t
I would say
Plump and Pat
As verbs
Both share the meaning of "to touch with hands"
As adverbs
Pat means "opportunely, appropriately", while Plump means "with a heavy fall". Not exact opposites, but a heavy fall is never appropriate!
As nouns
Pat means "a light stroke with the hand" while Plump means "an abrupt plunge". The pain is very different, you see!
As adjectives
Plump means "round, with smooth edges" and Pat means "too simple, unconvincing, rough". Rough and smooth are opposites!