Definition and Examples of an Antonym in English

Definition and Examples of an Antonym in English An antonym is a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word, such as hot and cold, short and tall. An antonym is the antonym of synonym. Adjective: antonymous. Another word for antonym is counterterm. Antonymy is the sense relation that exists between words which are opposite in meaning. Edward Finnegan defines antonymy as a binary relationship between terms with complementary meanings. Its sometimes said that antonymy occurs most often among adjectives, but  as Steven Jones et al. point out, its more accurate to say that antonym relations are more central to the adjective classes than to other classes. Nouns can be antonyms (for example, courage and cowardice), as can verbs (arrive and depart), adverbs (carefully and carelessly), and even prepositions (above and below).   Examples and Observations You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.Opposition and ParallelismFactors that contribute to particularly good antonym pairings may relate to more than just the two items semantic oppositeness; for instance, the pairing of increase and decrease is supported by their rhyme and the perception of a parallel morphology, as well as their semantic opposition.Three Types of AntonymsLinguists identify three types of antonymy: (1) Gradable antonyms, which operate on a continuum: (very) big, (very) small. Such pairs often occur in binomial phrases with and: (blow) hot and cold, (search) high and low. (2) Complementary antonyms, which express an either/or relationship: dead or alive, male or female. (3) Converse or relational antonyms, expressi ng reciprocity: borrow or lend, buy or sell, wife or husband. The Lighter Side of AntonymsA man in the Land of the Houyhnhnms,Had a large collection of antonyms;He would say, This is great!Theyre in pairs, so they mate,Unlike synonyms, and, of course, homonyms.(W. S. Brownlee) Pronunciation AN-ti-nim Source: Tom McArthur, Antonym. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992. Steven Jones et al.,  Antonyms in English: Construals, Constructions, and Canonicity. Cambridge University Press, 2012. Albert Einstein, The World As I See It, 1931. Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Knopf, 2006.