The absolute antonyms They are those words that refer to completely opposite concepts. For example: Live dead.
Antonyms are two words whose meanings are opposite and can be classified according to how their opposition is:
- absolute antonyms. They are words whose meanings are completely opposite. For example: good / bad.
- relative antonyms. They are words that are opposed, but whose meanings are not completely contrary, because there is another term that shows a greater opposition. For example: awful / cute.
In addition, according to the meaning, the antonyms are classified into:
- complementary antonyms. They are words that are opposed and mutually exclusive. For example: war / peace.
- reciprocal antonyms. They are words that require the existence of an opposite term. For example: cbuyer/seller.
- gradual antonyms. They are words that are opposed, but among them there are others that show graduation. For example: huge / tiny.
Characteristics of absolute antonyms
- They belong to the same class of words. Absolute antonyms can be a pair of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs or prepositions, but two words belonging to different classes can never be opposed.
- They belong to the same semantic field.. Absolute antonyms have meanings that are related to each other, even though they are opposite.
- They represent completely opposite ideas or concepts. Absolute antonyms are terms whose referents cannot exist, happen or be at the same time.
- They can be formed with opposition and negation prefixes. Some of the absolute antonyms are formed with the prefixes a-, anti-, contra-, des-, dis- or -in. For example: normal / anormal.
Examples of Absolute Antonyms
Word
Its absolute antonym is…
open close boredom fun forward back affirm deny agreeable disagreeable encourage discourage love hate bitter sweet unpleasant likable off on up down absent present down rise well-being discomfort goodness evil changing immutable chaos order cowardly courageous coherence inconsistency understandable incomprehensible guilty innocent right left defeated victorious difficult easy tiny enormous asleep awake start finish find lose sick healthy dirty clean get in get out success failure false true win lose humility pride ignorance wisdom impossible possible restless calm intolerant patient slow speed get up sit luminosity darkness lie truth negative positive never always forget remember optimistic pessimist allow forbid tasty dull healthy unhealthy
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