Antonyms

1. Defini on: Antonyms are two or rarely more words of

the same language belonging to the same part of
speech, iden cal in style and nearly iden cal in
distribu on, associated and used together so that their
denota ve meanings render contrary or contradictory
no ons.
My cat is both amazing and wonderful
*My cat is both alive and dead.
2. Types of antonyms:
a. Absolute antonyms: Words that are completely
different in sound and form
are words regularly contrasted as homogeneous
sentence members connected by copula ve, disjunc ve
or adversa ve conjunc ons, or iden cally used parallel
construc ons, in certain typical configura ons (typical
contexts).
- Antonyms proper: polar members of a gradual
opposi on
Beau ful -pre y – good-looking – plain – ugly
- Complementary antomyms (binary): male – female,
true – false
 *This is a male but that one is a girl.
- Rela onal antonyms (converses): parent – child,
husband - wife
in – out
thin – fat
give – take
joy – grief
here – there
big – small
remember – forget
b. Deriva onal antonyms: Words which are formed by
deriva on:
decisive – indecisive
proper – improper
code – decode