Each word from the scale varies from the other in terms of the degree or intensity of meaning. Graded antonyms are two words indicating a specific level in a large scale of comparison. Each of the two words must exist or else, they won't be antonyms of each other.Ībove – below ('Above' doesn't exist without 'below'.) Relational antonyms are closely related antonym pairs.

In other words, each antonym in a complementary pair is independent and can exist without the other.īoy – girl (A boy can exist without a girl and vice versa.) Complementary AntonymsĬomplementary antonyms are absolute opposites. There are three types of antonyms: complementary antonyms, relational antonyms, and graded antonyms. ' Complex' is an adjective, and so is ' simple'. For instance, ' praise' is a verb, and so is ' applaud'. Synonyms, on the other hand, are words that have the same or different meanings.Ī useful tip: In the above examples, you are likely to have observed an important thing: each word in an antonyms/synonyms pair is from the same part of speech. You can find antonyms in an antonym dictionary.Antonyms are opposite words. For example 'bad' is an antonym of 'good'. AntonymĪn antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word. You can find synonyms in a synonym dictionary or thesaurus. Here are some more examples of synonyms: synonyms For example, 'blow up' and 'explode' have the same meaning, but 'blow up' is informal (used more in speech) and 'explode' is more formal (used more in writing and careful speech). Note that a synonym may share an identical meaning with another word, but the two words are not necessarily interchangeable.

What is an antonym