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antonym| Word that is opposite in meaning to another word. The following are antonyms: good and evil; slow and fast; hot and cold. |
| There are three different types of antonym: gradable, complementary, and converse. |
Gradable antonyms These describe something which can be measured and compared with something else. For example, if one car is travelling at 120 km/75 mi per hour and one at 60 km/37 mi per hour, one is fast and the other is slow. Other examples are small and big; hot and cold; dry and wet; clean and dirty. |
Complementary antonyms Here there is no comparison or scale; it is a matter of being either one thing or another. Examples are alive and dead: you are either alive or dead, not somewhere in-between. Other examples are single and married; male and female. |
Converse antonyms These antonyms depend on each other. For example, buy and sell. You cannot buy something without someone else selling it to you. Other examples are borrow and lend; wife and husband. |
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