Definition : Words which are in some way "opposite" to or incompatible with each other (ie if something is X, it can't also be Y). They may belong to various word classes - eg adjectives (rich-poor), adverbs (quickly-slowly) verbs (push-pull, pack-unpack), nouns (Sunday, Monday). They can be divided into gradable/ungradable antonyms, converse antonyms and complementary antonyms.
Click on the links for definitions, examples and further information for each type. then test yourself. What type of antonym are the words in the following list?
1. Doctor / Patient
2. Cheap / Expensive
3. True / False
4. Open / Closed
5. Always / Never
6. Everyone / No-one
7. Enter / Exit
8. Give / Receive
9. Rise / Fall
10. Soar / Plummet
Scroll down to the end for the answers.
Some things to keep in mind...
a) Antonyms are affected by meaning, so that one word may have more than one "opposite". McCarthy (1990) cites light as an example. It has different meanings and each will have a different antonym. Consider...
- a light bag / a heavy bag
- a light room / a dark room
- a light wind / a strong wind
b) There is not necessarily only one antonym for a word. There may be several synonyms which are equally possible. Think about the word minute (meaning very small) in the phrase a minute difference. Here the antonym of minute could be huge / enormous / gigantic / vast / massive - and you may be able to think of others.
c) McCarthy (ibid) also points to the fact that one of the words in an antonym pair may be "neutral" in meaning. For example, if I ask How often does it happen? I am not necessarily presuming that it happens often - the answer may be rarely. But if I ask How rarely does it happen? then I already presume a rare occurrence and expect an answer that reflects this.
Answers to the task above
Gradable antonyms = 2, 9
Ungradable antonyms = 5, 10
Converse antonyms = 1, 8
Complementary antonyms = 3, 4, 6, 7
