Meaning of phantonym | Babel Free

Definitions

A word that appears to mean one thing but actually means something else. Such terms are predisposed toward catachrestic use (including malapropisms) by speakers and writers.

Examples

“High-school juniors across the country, facing their first Preliminary SAT exams, are engrossed in improving their vocabulary. Here's a thought that might help⟳: A word that means the opposite of another is an antonym; a word that looks as if it means one thing but means quite another could be called a phantonym, and warrants wariness. ¶ Phantonyms pop up in the usage of even so careful a speaker as President Obama. As William Safire noted in March⟳, when the president said that he wanted the American people to have⟳ "a fulsome accounting" for his stimulus program⟳, he meant full, whereas to punctilious authorities the word means disgusting, excessive, insincere. […] Likewise, noisome does not mean⟳ noisy but smelly, unhealthful. […] Enormity does not mean⟳ enormous but great wickedness, a monstrous act.”

CEFR level