We explain what antonyms and antonymy are, what types exist and multiple examples. Also, what are synonyms.
What are antonyms?
Antonyms are those words whose meanings are exactly opposite to each other, that is, they mean the opposite of each other, as long as they belong to the same grammatical category (or type of word).
Antonymy, which is what this type of relationship between the meanings of words is called, can be of different types, depending on the way in which the words contradict each other.
There are hundreds of antonyms in any language, which are not necessarily synonyms with each other, since the way in which meaning is handled in a language is always complex. In other words, "beautiful" is the antonym of "grotesque" and also "monstrous", but the latter two are not equivalent, although they are related.
For this reason, antonyms are often collected in dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms, a common tool for language learners.
Antonym types
There are three types of antonym relationship:
- Gradual antonymy. It occurs when the two words are opposed in a non-absolute way, that is, there are other meanings to a different degree, such as between "hot" and "cold", that there are intermediate degrees "warm", "warm", and so on.
- Complementary antonymy. It occurs when the meaning of one word is incompatible with that of the other, that is, they are excluded: if one exists, the other does not exist. For example: "life" Y "death”, There are no intermediate terms.
- Antonymy reciprocal. The words oppose each other in a complementary way, that is, one cannot exist without the other, since they constitute a total set. For example: "buy" and "sell", since for someone to buy something the previous owner has to sell it.
Examples of antonyms
Next, we collect in a list a set of antonyms:
- Agile / clumsy
- Polite / rude
- Obtuse / acute
- Cool / hot
- Frozen / melted
- Beautify / ugly
- Pointed / blunt
- Happy Sad
- Happy / depressed
- Humble / arrogant
- Diligent / lazy
- Brave coward
- Up down
- Push pull
- Heavy light
- Enter / exit
- Consume / produce
- Know / ignore
- Achieve / fail
- Sleep / wake up
- Rebellion / submission
- Evil / goodness
- Win / lose
- Ascend / descend
- Pride / shame
- Absolute / relative
- Giant / dwarf
- Easy hard
- Solve / complicate
- Bright / dark
- Slave / master
- Action Reaction
Antonyms and synonyms
The antonym is, grammatically, the opposite of synonymy: if antonyms are words whose meanings are opposed, synonyms are words whose meanings are very similar, if not the same. That is, two words that can, to some extent, be exchanged without altering the meaning of what has been said, are synonymous words.
However, unlike antonymy, which is total, synonymy can never be 100%, since there will always be nuances, no matter how small or subjective, between one term and another. That is why it is often said that synonymy does not really exist, but rather represents a set of approximations.