75 Words with Contradictory Meanings

Thought this was interesting had to post it.

The English language includes an interesting category of words and phrases called contronyms (also spelled contranyms, or referred to as autoantonyms) — terms that, depending on context, can have opposite or contradictory meanings. When you use these words, be sure the context clearly identifies which meaning is intended:

1. Apology: A statement of contrition for an action, or a defense of one
2. Aught: All, or nothing
3. Bill: A payment, or an invoice for payment
4. Bolt: To secure, or to flee
5. Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement
6. Buckle: To connect, or to break or collapse
7. Cleave: To adhere, or to separate
8. Clip: To fasten, or detach
9. Consult: To offer advice, or to obtain it
10. Continue: To keep doing an action, or to suspend an action
11. Custom: A common practice, or a special treatment
12. Dike: A wall to prevent flooding, or a ditch
13. Discursive: Moving in an orderly fashion among topics, or proceeding aimlessly in a discussion
14. Dollop: A large amount (British English), or a small amount
15. Dust: To add fine particles, or to remove them
16. Enjoin: To impose, or to prohibit
17. Fast: Quick, or stuck or made stable
18. Fine: Excellent, or acceptable or good enough
19. Finished: Completed, or ended or destroyed
20. First degree: Most severe in the case of a murder charge, or least severe in reference to a burn
21. Fix: To repair, or to castrate
22. Flog: To promote persistently, or to criticize or beat
23. Garnish: To furnish, as with food preparation, or to take away, as with wages
24. Give out: To provide, or to stop because of a lack of supply
25. Go: To proceed or succeed, or to weaken or fail
26. Grade: A degree of slope, or a horizontal line or position
27. Handicap: An advantage provided to ensure equality, or a disadvantage that prevents equal achievement
28. Help: To assist, or to prevent or (in negative constructions) restrain
29. Hold up: To support, or to impede
30. Lease: To offer property for rent, or to hold such property
31. Left: Remained, or departed
32. Let: Allowed, or hindered
33. Liege: A feudal lord, or a vassal
34. Literally: Actually, or virtually
35. Mean: Average or stingy, or excellent
36. Model: An exemplar, or a copy
37. Off: Deactivated, or activated, as an alarm
38. Out: Visible, as with stars showing in the sky, or invisible, in reference to lights
39. Out of: Outside, or inside, as in working out of a specific office
40. Overlook: To supervise, or to neglect
41. Oversight: Monitoring, or failing to oversee
42. Peer: A person of the nobility, or an equal
43. Presently: Now, or soon
44. Put out: Extinguish, or generate
45. Puzzle: A problem, or to solve one
46. Quantum: Significantly large, or a minuscule part
47. Quiddity: Essence, or a trifling point of contention
48. Quite: Rather (as a qualifying modifier), or completely
49. Ravel: To entangle, or to disentangle
50. Refrain: To desist from doing something, or to repeat
51. Rent: To purchase use of something, or to sell use
52. Rock: An immobile mass of stone or figuratively similar phenomenon, or a shaking or unsettling movement or action
53. Sanction: To approve, or to boycott
54. Sanguine: Confidently cheerful, or bloodthirsty
55. Scan: To peruse, or to glance
56. Screen: To present, or to conceal
57. Seed: To sow seeds, or to shed or remove them
58. Shop: To patronize a business in order to purchase something, or to sell something
59. Skin: To cover, or to remove
60. Skinned: Covered with skin, or with the skin removed
61. Splice: To join, or to separate
62. Stakeholder: One who has a stake in an enterprise, or a bystander who holds the stake for those placing a bet
63. Strike: To hit, or to miss in an attempt to hit
64. Table: To propose (in British English), or to set aside
65. Temper: To soften, or to strengthen
66. Throw out: To dispose of, or to present for consideration
67. Transparent: Invisible, or obvious
68. Trim: To decorate, or to remove excess from
69. Trip: A journey, or a stumble
70. Unbending: Rigid, or relaxing
71. Variety: A particular type, or many types
72. Wear: To endure, or to deteriorate
73. Weather: To withstand, or to wear away
74. Wind up: To end, or to start up
75. With: Alongside, or against

Norm Applegate author of the thriller:

Shockwave

Lunch with New York Times Best Selling Author David Hagberg

Lunch with New York Times Best Selling author David Hagberg. Our usual stop is Sarasota's Polo Club in Lakewood Ranch. Talked publishing, tipped a few and snapped some photos of our novels...cause that's how we roll...




DAVID HAGBERG has published more than seventy novels of suspense, including the bestselling JOSHUA'S HAMMER, SOLDIER of GOD, and ALLAH'S SCORPIION. 

Former Air Force cryptographer David Hagberg is a bestselling author of international thrillers who has a knack for creating fiction that becomes fact. In THE WHITE HOUSE he predicted North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. In JOSHUA’S HAMMER he foresaw the 9/11 attack on the United States by bin Laden and his al-Quaeda, in DESERT FIRE Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions, in HIGH FLIGHT the downing of airliners as a method of terrorism on a massive scale. 

Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, David Hagberg joined the Air Force right out of high School where he was trained as a cryptographer, stationed in Greenland above the Arctic Circle and in Germany where he helped construct the (then) world’s largest crypto center on the planet. He attended the University of Maryland, Overseas Division and the University of Wisconsin studying physics, mathematics and philosophy. 

But he learned to write as a cub reporter on the Duluth Herald & News-Tribune and later as a news desk editor for the Associated Press. His first novel TWISTER was published in 1975 by Dell, and since that time he has published more than 70 novels of suspense in a career that includes a nomination for The American Book Award, three nominations for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award and three Mystery Scene best American Mystery awards. 

His papers are archived at the University of South Florida in Tampa. 

David and his wife Laurie, who is a professional fundraiser, make their home in Sarasota, Florida from where, whenever they have spare time, sail the West Coast of the State and the Keys.


Norm Applegate's Shockwave on Amazon
Shockwave

How do bombs kill...

Shockwave: Excerpt from Chapter 1

The first thing Dwyer saw before the sound hit him was a blinding flash of light hitting his retina. White light, bright, blocked everything out. Almost painful, like getting hit in the eye with a fist. This wasn't a small explosion like a pipe bomb or a large one like Oklahoma City in '95. It was a medium explosion.

Explosions are a buildup of pressure and a sudden release of energy. At some point the pressure is greater than the container and then things happen. The container blows apart and a shockwave travels like a rocket from ground zero to some distance depending on the power of the explosion. It's not the detonation or the searing temperature that is so destructive. It's in the air. The shockwave, a thin layer of rapidly moving air is what you have to look out for. This one produced a shockwave traveling over three hundred meters per second.

Jack Dwyer was on the sidewalk. Sprawled out on his back. He moved to his side. Propped himself up on one elbow. Stunned at first, took a few seconds to come to. He wasn't knocked out, maybe close to it, but he was shook up. His leg hurt, kind of twisted. Not broken, just a sprain. Ears ringing, eyes blinking. He knew what had happened. He'd seen it before. Dwyer knew about bombs. 

Taken from Chapter 1:

Shockwave

Shockwave: New Thriller Released on Amazon

Shockwave just released on Amazon Kindle $2.99: Thriller writer Norm Applegate, author of Into the Basement, introduces us to a new character, Jack Dwyer.

Shockwave.

Loner Jack Dwyer.

Pretty woman Kelly Paul.

Homegrown terrorists use pipe bombs to kill.

The cause? They want America back.

Violence breeds violence.

Never underestimate a loner!

Book Description:

Jack Dwyer is observant. Sitting at Starbucks he watches a van come to a stop. A nervous guy gets out, looks around, seems strange. Dwyer watches him. The guy crosses the street. Dwyer realizes the guy’s staring at a pretty woman, Kelly Paul. Dwyer makes eye contact with her. Dwyer looks left, right, reacts, moves fast, pushes her down, saves her but the bomb explodes. People are killed. She goes missing and Dwyer is the suspect.

Dwyer can’t forget her. Doesn’t understand why she’s missing.  He’s a loner, ex-military, a psychologist and he has seen death. He’s wildly attracted to the pretty woman and he goes after her.

Beau Redell, and a group of sadistic followers, is the problem.  Kelly Paul has been taken, abducted, terrorized.But Dwyer finds himself alone and a violent conclusion is inevitable…

Shockwave by Norm Applegate

Pipe Bomb. Hostage. Terror.

Edited by Deborah Levinson.

Cover art James Rone.

Amazon Kindle $2.99

Shockwave

Shockwave: New Thriller Release

I'm introducing my novel; SHOCKWAVE, the first thriller I've published. My other novels are classified as horror but I always thought Into the Basement could be a thriller; although if abduction and torture has happened to women; and we know it has, it would be a horror! 

Deborah Levinson went over the manuscript for spelling and grammar. Then she sent me nine pages of ideas, all great stuff. A big shout out to her for helping me.

The cover is by James Rone. He did "Jumpers." SHOCKWAVE, is cool. If your looking for an editor or book cover artist contact them. You can reach them through me or Facebook. Below is what I've posted on Amazon and Smashword's premium catalog. 

*                   *                   *

Thriller writer Norm Applegate, author of Into the Basement, introduces us to a new character, Jack Dwyer.

Shockwave.

Loner Jack Dwyer.

Pretty woman Kelly Paul.

Homegrown terrorists use pipe bombs to kill.

The cause? They want America back.

Violence breeds violence.

Never underestimate a loner!

Book Description:

Jack Dwyer is observant. Sitting at Starbucks he watches a van come to a stop. A nervous guy gets out, looks around, seems strange. Dwyer watches him. The guy crosses the street. Dwyer realizes the guy’s staring at a pretty woman, Kelly Paul. Dwyer makes eye contact with her. Dwyer looks left, right, reacts, moves fast, pushes her down, saves her but the bomb explodes. People are killed. She goes missing and Dwyer is the suspect.

Dwyer can’t forget her. Doesn’t understand why she’s missing.  He’s a loner, ex-military, a psychologist and he has seen death. He’s wildly attracted to the pretty woman and he goes after her.

Beau Redell, and a group of sadistic followers, is the problem.  Kelly Paul has been taken, abducted, terrorized. But Dwyer finds himself alone and a violent conclusion is inevitable…

Shockwave by Norm Applegate

Pipe Bomb. Hostage. Terror.

Edited by Deborah Levinson.

Cover art James Rone.

Shockwave is approximately 79,000 words long, and is specifically formatted for Kindle. This ebook also contains bonus material:

Chapter 1 of Into the Basement by: Norm Applegate.

“Into the Basement introduces us to Norm Applegate's no nonsense staccato writing style and realistic approach to the thriller/suspense/genre.” - Withersin Magazine June issue 2008, withersine.com

"Norm Applegate is a new voice just emerging onto the field of the mystery/thriller novel that has the rest of us looking over our shoulders."  - David Hagberg New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of Dance With the Dragon, Allah's Scorpion and Mutiny.

"Norman Applegate’s writing truly delivers with all the raw force and prose of a top rate storyteller, seasoning his tales with a mixture of classic genre skill and infusion of intrigue and characterization that makes the stories move." - Nicholas Grabowsky Horror author of "Halloween IV.

“Applegate creates a very graphic and violent story filled with blood, gore, and sex.” – The Book Faery Reviews

Books by Norm Applegate:

First to Die – Just $2.99!

Blood Bar  - Just .99!

Into the Spell – Just .99!

Jumpers (short story)  - Just .99!

…and thriller novel

Into the Basement – Just $1.99

#1 in Kindle Store >Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Horror: Since March 2011

How to choose between "Into" and "Onto!"

Here's an article that I found interesting.

Into, or “in to”? Onto, or “on to”?

Into and onto are prepositions, words that describe relative position. They are part of prepositional phrases, such as “She settled herself into her seat” or “He climbed onto the roof.” These words are forward looking, in that, as their grammatical name implies, they are positioned before the object.

“In to” and “on to,” on the other hand, are combinations of an adverb (in or on) and the preposition to. Unlike the single-word forms, they look both backward (in and on refer to a preceding verb) and forward (to pertains to the following object).

Of the distinctions between each pair, that distinguishing into from “in to” is more straightforward. If you wish to write that you went somewhere to let a representative of a company know you are disappointed with a product or service, you can express that idea using either form. But if you write, “I walked into the office to lodge a complaint,” the sentence focuses on the prepositional phrase “into the office.” If you write, “I walked in to lodge a complaint,” the emphasis is the phrase describing the action: “I walked in.”

Onto and “on to” can be more confusing, but think of the problem this way: “She drove onto the highway” means, “She drove so that she was on the highway.” Conversely, “She drove on to the highway” means, “She headed for the highway.” The two-word form is also appropriate for figurative meanings, where no physical movement or placement exists — for example, “I think you’re really on to something.”

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to test whether onto or “on to” is correct — temporarily insert the wordup after the verb, or, just for the test, replace the word or the phrase with the word on:

The “Up” Test
When you wish to write that you used a ladder, could you write, “I climbed up onto the ladder”? Yes, you could, so onto is correct. When you want to express that you clutched something, could you write, “I held up on my hat”? No, the sentence does not make sense, so the two-word form (“I held on to my hat”) is the right one in this case.

The “On” Test
When you wish to write that you scaled a boulder, could you write, “I climbed on a boulder”? Yes, you could, soonto is correct. When you want to express that you bequeathed something, would you write, “I passed it on him”? No, that doesn’t make sense, so the two-word form (“I passed it on to him”) is correct here.

Into the Basement

First To Die

Sadist (Turkish version of Into the Basement)

Source:dailywritingtips

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The Chicago Manual of Style

I kind of think this is a must in everyone's library. Thought I would re-post, it's good information.


The Chicago Manual of Style, born in 1906 as a house style guide for the University of Chicago Press, has made great strides over the past century, especially since it hit puberty with the publication of the twelfth edition in 1969. Now in its sixteenth iteration, it remains the supreme authority among American book publishers and a favored resource for many journal and magazine publishers as well.
The 1,000-plus-page manual, published only in hardcover but also available by subscription online, earns its reputation as a valuable resource for writers and editors, but it’s not necessarily a must-buy.
For one thing, Chicago, as it’s informally known in the publishing industry (its name is also abbreviated toCMS or CMOS), devotes many of its pages to book-production specifications and protocol. And because of its $65 MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price), it’s quite an investment, considering that casual users are likely to consult fewer than half of its pages. (Notice that you can buy it online for around $35 though. Here’s the link to the Amazon page selling it.)

But what a trove that middle half is, especially chapter 5, “Grammar and Usage,” introduced in the fifteenth edition and updated for this one. Written by Bryan A. Garner, author of the authoritative Garner’s Modern American Usage, its 100-plus pages include a primer on parts of speech and an alphabetical glossary of problem words and phrases (basically an abridged version of his encyclopedic work mentioned above).
The next half dozen or so chapters are also essential reading; they cover, respectively, punctuation, word treatment (including plurals and possessives, italics and quotation marks, and compounds and hyphenation), names and terms, numbers, and abbreviation. Also of some utility to writers and editors are chapters on foreign languages, mathematics, and quotations and dialogue.
The first part, on the other hand, though its sections on manuscript preparation and editing and proofreading, and its chapter on rights, permissions, and copyright, might inform and interest freelancers, is directed primarily at publication staff, and its more than 200 pages of guidelines on notes, bibliography, and references are applicable only to authors whose work is published in academic journals and scholarly books, or for editors who review their copy.
The final chapter, on indexing, the first appendix, on production and digital technology, and the second one, a glossary of book-publishing terms, will interest authors who want to know more about the process of creating print and online publications, but only professional indexers and editorial and production personnel are likely to return to these pages for repeat consultation.

I’m surprised that the University of Chicago Press hasn’t acted on what at least one employee there must have thought of — publication of Part Two: Style and Usage as a separate volume that is more accessible and practical for freelance wordsmiths. However, it would be somewhat redundant to The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, a paperback volume originally conceived as a companion to Chicago that repurposes that volume’s style and usage section for a more generalist audience — not just the titular type — and includes themed exercises at the end of each chapter.

Whatever you decide about whether to own the latest (2010) edition of Chicago — you might also buy a used copy of the fifteenth edition, or even the fourteenth, both somewhat out of date but still largely applicable — consult the namesake Web site. Much of the site’s resources are available only by subscription, but the Chicago Style Q&A is a free, highly informative (and often humorous and sometimes exquisitely snarky) source.
Take-away: If you’re committed to working in academic or trade publishing in the United States, this book is probably in your future. (But, then, it should already be in your workplace.) If you’re not planning on an in-house career with a book or journal publisher, other guides and manuals are more appropriate for your professional goals, though repeated perusal of a library copy would not be a waste of time.


Author of:
Into the Basement

First to Die


Source: Dailywritingtips