What Are Antonyms?

Definition

Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings.

Most words have more than one antonym.

Antonyms can belong to all word classes and they are useful when describing, comparing and contrasting elements/topics.

There are different types of antonyms:

Antonyms can belong to more than one category.

Relational Antonyms

Relational antonyms are words that form a pair of opposite roles in a relationship.

Examples

The narwhal is a predator. The octopus is one of its favourite prey.

Gradable antonyms are usually pairs of words that have opposite meanings that could be represented on a scale.

Examples

Gradable antonyms are usually adjectives.

Adverbs can be added to specify the quality level of the adjective.

Delicious and disgusting are gradable antonyms.

We could add adverbs such as very or extremely before each word to qualify them.

For example: somewhat delicious or extremely disgusting.

Complementary antonyms are opposite pairs that can’t be used simultaneously to describe something. It is either one or the other.

Examples

A slush container cannot be full and empty at the same time. That is why these words are complementary antonyms.

Some antonyms are formed by adding a prefix to the word.

Examples

For more examples, visit the concept sheet on prefixes.