Antonym

Antonym Definition
An antonym is a semantic term for words that have opposite meanings or definitions. Simply put, an antonym is the opposite of another word. The term "antonym" has been derived from a Greek word antonumia, which means countername.

is, in fact, a sensory relationship or a binary relationship between words that have opposite or contradictory meanings. For example, in the sentence, "You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget" (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy), the underlined words "forget" and "remember" are opposite to each other, that is, they are antonyms between yes.

Difference between antonym and synonym
Antonyms are pairs of words that have opposite meanings, such as: night-day, bright-dull, and wet-dry. Synonyms, on the other hand, are a group of words that have similar meanings. Most of the words have synonyms. Verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs have synonyms, as long as they belong to the same speech part.

Types of antonyms
There are three types of antonyms, which are:

Graduated antonyms: Graduated antonyms use words that have variations between two opposites. For example, the words "big" and "small" are opposites; however, they may use a variety of other words with opposite meanings such as:
Large, bulky, full-size, huge / small, light, and small
Smart, clever, cunning, bright / stupid, dim, obtuse, dumb, reckless
Happy, satisfied, joyful, ecstatic / sad, gloomy, downcast, miserable
Healthy, vigorous, fit, strong / sick, sick, sick, ill
Relational or Inverse Antonyms: Relational antonyms use pairs of words that are closely related in which each word cannot exist without the other, or A word has only one relational opposite. For example:
Front-back
Open-close
Husband-wife
Hello-goodbye
Complementary Antonyms: Complementary antonyms use pairs of words that are absolute opposites. They can exist independently of each other, as a daughter is not the complementary opposite. of a son in the family. Similarly, girls can exist without their complementary opposites, boys. Some of these are given below:
True-false
Dead-alive
Male-female
On-off
Daught er-son
Yes-no
Examples of antonyms in literature
Example # 1: The simple man and his wife (by Arnold Bennett)
“If I mean who do I mean? with the simple man, my answer is that I mean almost all men. I certainly mean me. I mean ... the successful and the unsuccessful, the idle and the diligent, the luxurious and the austere. "Idle" is opposite of "diligent" and "luxurious" is exactly opposite of "austere." ”

Example # 2: The world as I see it (by Albert Einstein)
“ Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the work of other men, living and dead, and that I must strive in order give in the same measure that I have received and am still receiving ”.

The example above has used the graded antonyms "interior" and "exterior", "give" and "received", and complementary antonyms "alive" and "dead". "

Example # 3: Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
" This above all: be true to yourself,
And it must go on, like night to day,
Then you cannot be false with any man. "

In this excerpt, Shakespeare has used graded antonyms" night "and" day ", and absolute or complementary antonyms" alive "and" dead ".

Example # 4: A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens)
" It was the It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the age of faith, it was the age of unbelief, it was the season of light, it was the season. of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ... "

Dickens has used antonyms wonderfully in this passage." Better "is opposite" worse "," wisdom "is opposite of" foolishness ", and also" belief "and" disbelief "," light "and" darkness "," hope "and" despair "are graduated antonyms.

Function del antonym
The function of antonyms, both in speech and in writing, is important because they highlight or emphasize the main idea of ​​a text or speech. In literature, antonyms are used in different literary devices, such as in the synecdoche and paradox. These devices highlight some characteristics of a character or some quality of a person. Antonyms are also useful tools in storytelling, argumentation, description, and explanation. Antonyms also play an important role in language acquisition.

Adverb Clause