antonym

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Etymology

From French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient Greek ἀντωνυμία; credit for popularization of the French loanword's naturalization into English is given principally to Charles John Smith and his 1867 book ''Synonyms and Antonyms: Or, Kindred Words and Their Opposites.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæn.təˌnɪm/

Noun

antonym (plural antonyms)

1. (semantics) A word which has the opposite meaning of another word.

   Synonyms: counterterm, opposite

   Antonyms: synonym

   Coordinate terms: coordinate term, cohyponym; antiphrasis; near-synonym, parasynonym, plesionym

   “Rich” is an antonym of “poor”; “full” is an antonym of “empty”.

   1. A word that describes one end of a scale, while its opposite describes the other end, such as large versus small; a gradable antonym.

Translations

• French: antonyme
• German: Antonym, Gegenwort, Gegensatzwort, Gegenbegriff
• Italian: contrario, (uncommon) antonimo
• Portuguese: antónimo (Portugal), antônimo (Brazil)
• Russian: анто́ним
• Spanish: antónimo

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