Posted by Eugene Volokh:
"Sanctioned":
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_05-2009_04_11.shtml#1238962087
Here's a phrase I just spotted in a (generally very good) paper I'm
reading:
[T]he Court has sanctioned the use of speech as evidence in
establishing that ....
Is that "sanctioned" in the sense of "approved" or in the sense of
"punished" (a common use of the term "sanction" in litigation)? The
reader should be able to figure this out from context, but it's
usually better not to put the reader to the work of having to do that,
or risk even briefly leading the reader in the wrong direction.
So be careful with this [1]contronym, and avoid using it as a verb,
except when the context makes things completely clear (for instance,
because you have just been talking about Rule 11 sanctions -- a common
legal term -- and your use of "sanctioned" clearly links back to the
earlier noun phrase).
References
1. http://www.fun-with-words.com/nym_autoantonyms.html
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