ANTONYMS

Antonyms comes from the Greek anti (opposite) and

onoma (name) and means word pairs that are
opposite in meaning. Common examples are big and
small, hot and cold, fat and skinny, and up and down.
Words may have different antonyms, depending on
the meaning. For example, both long and tall are
antonyms of short. In addition, languages often have
ways of creating antonyms as an easy extension of
lexicon. An example of the English prefixes in- and
un-. Unreal is the antonym of real and indocile is of
docile.
TYPES OF ANTONYMS
 TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Gradable These words are two • Freezing and boiling, which could
Antonyms ends of the spectrum include lukewarm, hot, very hot, etc.
on the scale between them.
• Superiority and inferiority, which
could include adequacy and
mediocrity on the scale between
them.

Relational These are pairs in • Parent and child, teacher and

Antonyms which one describes a student, or buy and sell
relationship between
two objects and the
other describes the
same relationship
when two objects are
reversed
Auto-antonyms These are the same • Fast (moving quickly; fixed firmly in
words that can mean place)
the opposite of • Cleave (to split; to adhere)
themselves under • Sanction (punishment, prohibition,
different contexts or permission)
having separate • Stay (remain in a specific place,
definitions. postpone; guide direction,
movement)
Non-gradable These are words that • Perfect and imperfect
adjectives are so mutually • Wrong and correct
exclusive that there is
no middle ground
between them