Janus word

English

Etymology

From Janus, the two-faced Roman god of doorways and transitions.

Noun

Janus word (plural Janus words)

1. A word that has two contradictory meanings; contranym.
   • 1971, Richard J. Norman, Reasons for Actions: A Critique of Utilitarian Rationality, page 67:

     A pro-attitude cannot be regarded as rational unless it can be justified by showing that the object of the attitude can be characterized by means of a Janus-word.

   • 1994, Nancy Dena Goldfarb, The poetics of drowning, page 37:

     The poet is caught in the contradiction of this Janus word. Both and neither speaking and/nor silent, the poet becomes the contradiction in which the title "Dichtermuth" involves him.

   • 1996, Scott B. Noegel, Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job, page 187:

     The difference between them is that in Janus parallelism, the referents of the Janus word do not contain the same root as the Janus word; in antanaclasis, the same root is repeated with a different meaning.