Antonymy And Different Antonyms

In earlier blog posts we have already covered the topic of why using a thesaurus to find synonyms can be important, and also given you some synonyms for the verb “to walk”. However, there is more than just synonyms! Antonyms are the opposite of synonyms, but they are not all alike!

 

That is why we will venture into the topic of Antonymy today. We will talk about the different kinds of antonyms and give examples to differentiate them even better.

 

Antonymy

As stated above, antonyms are the opposite of synonyms. Meaning a pair of words that expresses the opposite of one another. It is possible that a word can have more than one antonym – just like a word can have several synonyms as well. In Linguistics, three different kinds of antonyms are singled out by definition.

 

Gradable Antonyms

By definition, gradable antonyms are words with opposite meaning that lie on the same spectrum and can have different “grades” or “severity.”

 

The most prominent example for this kind of antonymy is the pair of young and old. Both can be found on a scale of age, and they can be used to put something, in this case a person, in perspective to another. Thus, person one can be younger or older than person two.

Negating one statement does not make the other come true. Someone who is not old is not automatically young and vice versa.

 

Complementary Antonyms

With complementary antonyms, thee is no continuous spectrum given. The pair of words conveys a direct opposite in meaning. They can not be graded, or set in perspective, A person, condition, etc. is either one, or the other.

 

The most well known example for this is the pair of dead and alive. Not counting so-called “undead” beings like zombies and vampires, a thing, person, animal, or other entity can either be dead or alive. In return, negating one statement creates the identical meaning of the other. Not-dead means the same as alive, and not-alive carries the same meaning as dead.

On the other hand, no one can be more dead or “deader” than someone else.

 

Relational Antonyms

Relational antonyms do not denote lexical opposites, but group pairs of words that are antonymous when set in relation to each other. Those antonyms can not be graded either, and negation does not automatically create the opposite meaning of the antonym.

 

An example for relational antonyms are pairs like come and go or husband and wife. When put in relation to one another, these pairs form antonyms. In marriage, the opposite of the wife is the husband.

However, these pairs can not be graded or negated. Just because person one is not a wife doesn’t make her a husband.