Binary Antonyms Definition BINARY ANTONYMS are predicates which come in pairs and between

them exhaust all the relevant possibilities. If the one predicate is applicable, then the other cannot be,
and vice versa. Another way to view this is to say that a predicate is a binary antonym of another
predicate if it entails the negative of the other predicate. Example true and false are binary antonyms.
If a sentence is true, it cannot be false. If it is false, it cannot be true. Alternatively, if something is
true, this entails that it is not false. If it is false, this entails it is not true.

Sometimes two different binary antonyms can combine in a set of predicates to produce a four-way
contrast. Ex) man, boy, woman, girl adult/non-adult, male/female ex) bachelor, spinster, husband,
wife married/unmarried, male/female

When two things/people can be mentioned in the opposite order, then the two predicates are
converses of each other. Ex) parent-child X is the parent of Y = Y is the child of X , buy-sell; below -
above; love – have, conceal – reveal

In binary antonymy and converseness, the antonyms come in pairs. Incompatibility between more
than two members • In multiply incompatible system, all the terms in a give system are mutually
incompatible & the members of a system cover all the relevant area. Ex) season, week, cards, month