In lexical semantics , opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is male entails that it is not female . It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members in a set of opposites. The relationship between opposites is known as opposition . A member of a pair of opposites can generally be determined by the question What is the opposite of X ?
18-484: The term antonym (and the related antonymy) is commonly taken to be synonymous with opposite, but antonym also has other more restricted meanings. Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold). Complementary antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite but whose meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum ( push , pull ). Relational antonyms are word pairs where opposite makes sense only in
36-472: A scale , is distant from a related word. Some words lack a lexical opposite due to an accidental gap in the language's lexicon . For instance, while the word "devout" has no direct opposite, it is easy to conceptualize a scale of devoutness, where "devout" lies at the positive end with a missing counterpart at the negative end. In certain cases, opposites can be formed with prefixes like "un-" or "non-," with varying levels of naturalness. For example, "undevout"
54-417: A continuous spectrum so hot and cold , two meanings on opposite ends of the spectrum, are gradable antonyms. Other examples include: heavy : light , fat : skinny , dark : light , young : old , early : late , empty : full , dull : interesting . A complementary antonym, sometimes called a binary or contradictory antonym (Aarts, Chalker & Weiner 2014),
72-684: A form of polysemy , but where a single word acquires different and ultimately opposite definitions. For example, sanction —"permit" or " penalize "; bolt (originally from crossbows )—"leave quickly" or "fix/immobilize"; fast —"moving rapidly" or "fixed in place". Some English examples result from nouns being verbed in the patterns of "add <noun> to" and "remove <noun> from"; e.g. dust , seed , stone . Denotations and connotations can drift or branch over centuries. An apocryphal story relates how Charles II (or sometimes Queen Anne ) described St Paul's Cathedral (using contemporaneous English) as " awful, pompous, and artificial ", with
90-452: A pair of words that refer to a relationship from opposite points of view. There is no lexical opposite of teacher , but teacher and pupil are opposite within the context of their relationship. This makes them relational antonyms. Other examples include: husband : wife , doctor : patient , predator : prey , teach : learn , servant : master , come : go , parent : child . An auto-antonym
108-463: A pair of words where one word implies a relationship between two objects, while the other implies the existence of the same relationship when the objects are reversed. Converses are sometimes referred to as complementary antonyms because an "either/or" relationship is present between them. One exists only because the other exists. This semantics article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Auto-antonym A contronym
126-834: A special type of incompatibility. Words that are incompatible create the following type of entailment (where X is a given word and Y is a different word incompatible with word X): An example of an incompatible pair of words is cat : dog : This incompatibility is also found in the opposite pairs fast : slow and stationary : moving , as can be seen below: It's fast entails It's not slow Cruse (2004) identifies some basic characteristics of opposites: Some planned languages abundantly use such devices to reduce vocabulary multiplication. Esperanto has mal- (compare bona = "good" and malbona = "bad"), Damin has kuri- ( tjitjuu "small", kuritjitjuu "large") and Newspeak has un- (as in ungood , "bad"). Some classes of opposites include: An antonym
144-426: A word stem associated with a single event may treat the action of that event as unitary, so in translation it may appear contronymic. For example, Latin hospes can be translated as both "guest" and "host". In some varieties of English, borrow may mean both "borrow" and "lend". Seeming contronyms can arise from translation. In Hawaiian , for example, aloha is translated both as "hello" and as "goodbye", but
162-402: Is a word that can have opposite meanings in different contexts or under separate definitions: Relational antonym In linguistics , converses or relational antonyms are pairs of words that refer to a relationship from opposite points of view, such as parent/child or borrow/lend . The relationship between such words is called a converse relation . Converses can be understood as
180-430: Is a word with two opposite meanings . For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". This feature is also called enantiosemy , enantionymy ( enantio- means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy . An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic . A contronym is alternatively called an autantonym , auto-antonym , antagonym , enantiodrome , enantionym , Janus word (after
198-652: Is bad as hell ; lyrics full of sick burns ). Some contronyms result from differences in varieties of English . For example, to table a bill means "to put it up for debate" in British English , while it means "to remove it from debate" in American English (where British English would have "shelve", which in this sense has an identical meaning in American English). To barrack , in Australian English ,
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#1732877348723216-465: Is found in Webster's 1828 dictionary, while the prefix pattern of "non-person" could theoretically extend to "non-platypus." Conversely, some words appear to be derived from a prefix suggesting opposition, yet the root term does not exist. An example is "inept," which seems to be "in-" + *"ept," although the word "ept" itself does not exist. Such words are known as unpaired words . Opposites may be viewed as
234-408: Is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings, where the two meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum. There is no continuous spectrum between odd and even but they are opposite in meaning and are therefore complementary antonyms. Other examples include: mortal : immortal , exit : entrance , exhale : inhale , occupied : vacant . A relational antonym is one of
252-400: Is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings. Each word in the pair is the antithesis of the other. A word may have more than one antonym. There are three categories of antonyms identified by the nature of the relationship between the opposed meanings. A gradable antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings where the two meanings lie on a continuous spectrum. Temperature is such
270-471: Is to loudly demonstrate support, while in British English it is to express disapproval and contempt. In Latin , sacer has the double meaning "sacred, holy" and "accursed, infamous". Greek δημιουργός gave Latin its demiurgus , from which English got its demiurge , which can refer either to God as the creator or to the devil , depending on philosophical context. In some languages,
288-496: The Roman god Janus , who is usually depicted with two faces), self-antonym , antilogy , or addad (Arabic, singular didd ). Some pairs of contronyms are true homographs , i.e., distinct words with different etymologies which happen to have the same form. For instance cleave "separate" is from Old English clēofan , while cleave "adhere" is from Old English clifian , which was pronounced differently. Other contronyms are
306-407: The context of the relationship between the two meanings ( teacher , pupil ). These more restricted meanings may not apply in all scholarly contexts, with Lyons (1968, 1977) defining antonym to mean gradable antonyms, and Crystal (2003) warning that antonymy and antonym should be regarded with care. Opposition is a semantic relation in which one word has a sense or meaning that negates or, in terms of
324-464: The meaning (rendered in modern English) of "awe-inspiring, majestic, and ingeniously designed". " Literally " has had a literal meaning of "word for word", but its increasing use as a intensifier in colloquial speech can make it express "not literally but with emphasis". Negative words such as bad and sick sometimes acquire ironic senses by antiphrasis referring to traits that are impressive and admired, if not necessarily positive ( that outfit
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