Oversight Blamed in Alaska Crash” says Yahoo news. Oversight is one of those odd words that can be its own antonym. “Federal Oversight” means someone from the government is keeping an eye on things. But “That was an oversight on my part” means that I wasn’t keeping an eye on things. I can think of a few other words that fall into this category. Sanction can mean both “to permit” and “to forbid”. Cleave can mean “to split apart” and “to join together or adhere.” So Gertrude says “O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain”, but Genesis (I think) says “Therefore shall a man cleave unto his wife.” Buckle means to fail or break, but also to join together or fuse, as with a belt buckle. In The Windhover Hopkins says “Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle!” (Incidentally, you should go read The Windhover right now. You don’t really know what the English language can do until you’ve read Hopkins.)

Thoses are the only ones I can think of offhand. They’re rare birds. Anyone know of others?