Antonyms definition: The exact opposite meaning of another word is an antonym. Adverbs and adjectives are often the antonyms of words that they directly oppose. Antonyms come in handy to show the differentiation between two things that one what’s to clarify. Descriptive writing for an article using antonyms is very useful. While comparing things and their components, one can use antonyms. 

For example, opaque and transparent are words used when describing sustenance and its properties. As these words don’t mean the same, it makes their antonyms. We might know them as opposites before we know their concept. Later being introduced to us as antonyms. We often get confused between synonyms and antonyms. Synonyms are those words with the same meaning as another—giving us a vast range of words to pick from our vocabulary. While on the other hand, antonyms don’t mean the same but the exact opposite of the word. Showing dissimilarities between one another.

Classification Of Antonyms

Some main types of classification of antonyms in the English language are:

Auto-antonym

In auto antonym, the word has one opposite meaning, including two different meanings for that word. “Contronym” and “Janus word” are a few other names that are given to auto-antonyms. A few examples of auto-antonyms are: consult, dust, bound, and fast.

Complementary Antonyms

The words that have direct absolute opposites is known as complementary antonyms. The words are related to one another. No other term is required for these words to exist. A word from one another exists independently as a result. It is also known as contradictory antonyms or direct antonyms. “Inhale and exhale” and “night and day” are some examples of complementary antonyms.

Converse Antonyms

When words that cannot exist without one another as they are closely related are called converse antonyms. As they have a co-relation, one single opposite won’t make any sense. “Near” and “far” are words that depend on each other as something can be far away when measured with an object that is nearby. “Near and “far” are therefore converse antonyms. They are also known as relational antonyms.

Graded

A word like “happy”, has synonyms such as pleased, gratified, overjoyed and content. As they have a relational connection between them, each of them has a different definition. A similar meaning of the words that show variations and grades between them is known as graded. 

Auto-antonyms

The word cleave has two different meanings: “to blind with each other” and “to tear apart”. From this example, we could understand what an auto-antonym is. One word that is reverse of one another has multiple meanings. A few other terms for auto antonyms are contronym and antagonym. When the phenomenon of words with multiple meanings that are reverse of one another is done, it is called enantiosemy. For polysemic terms, enantiosemic is essential. 

Enantionymy, antilogy and autantongym are also terms related to enantiosemy. Differences in varieties of English result in some other auto-antonyms. Rather than having alternative meanings in different contexts, some words have the same context. They have opposing meanings or simultaneous opposing to such words. As they share the theme of consisting of opposing words and their meaning, they still don’t classify as auto-antonyms. Latin, Greek and a few other languages contain auto-antonyms. 

Antonyms Examples

The different types of antonyms have examples that are countless. Here are a few of them:

1. Auto-antonym: A verb such as “dust” used in a sentence has two meanings. One definition may mean “to clean away light debris” and while on the other hand, the other meaning word is “to lightly cover with fine particles”. To illustrate the difference between them, here are a few sentences to make us understand. “She has done her work that was to dust the fireplace” and “With a fine layer of powdered sugar, and he dusted the cookies and chocolates”. These are the few examples of auto-antonym.
2. Complementary antonyms: “The girl walked to the curb” and “The boy crossed the street” are sentences where independence is given to both the subjects. The girl isn’t the condition for boys exist. As a result, they have some complementary antonyms as an example. 
3. Converse antonyms: “To hold, the pan was cool” and “The pan was warm” are examples of the converse antonyms. A relational opposite is shown between them. Due to the pan being hot and then warm to touch, until then, it can’t be cooled. 
4. Graded antonyms: A word with different meanings and variations is known as graded antonyms. For example, “The results came out as very pleasant and upbeat, and they were also joyous and remarkable”. Even though these words mean the same, that is “good”, but they differ on the scale. “Remarkable” is not the same as “pleasant”. Both the words are positive yet differ. 

Using Prefixes For Antonyms

The relationship between words can be shown by adding certain prefixes. Hence the antonymous of the words can be revealed. Here are a few examples:

1. Dis-: To indicate “dislike (like),” between two things, this prefix is used. For example, “disappear (appear),” “discomfort(comfort),” and “disobedient(obedient),”. 
2. Mis-: You can create antonyms such as ” misinformation(information),” “mislead(lead),” “misunderstand(understand),” and “misconduct(conduct),” by adding the prefix that is “mis,” to a word.
3. Im- and In-: Creating new words that are antonyms by adding the prefixes “im-” or “in-” to the word. For example, “intolerance(tolerance),” ” impatient(patient),” “impossible(possible),” and “injustice(justice)”. 
4. Non- and un-: Certain words can be turned into antonyms. Adding the prefixes “im-” or “in-” to the word. “Uncertain(certain),” “unease(ease),” “non-compliant(complaint),” and “nonverbal(verbal)” are a few examples that include the prefixes “non-” and “un-“.