Antonyms
The words that have opposite or almost opposite meanings are referred to as ‘Antonyms’. A word can have more than one antonym. It need not necessarily be the exact opposite meaning of that particular word, it can also be a group of words that convey an opposite idea of the word.
For example, the word ‘arrogant’ does not have a direct opposite as such. It can be a group of words that convey a positive meaning as opposed to the negative meaning that the word ‘arrogant’ has. Hence, the antonyms for ‘arrogant’ can be ‘humble’, ‘polite’, ‘courteous’ and so on. This is how antonyms work. ‘Antonyms’ cannot be narrowed down to ‘opposite meaning words’.Let’s take a look at some common antonyms.
A List Commonly used Antonyms
| Above – Below
Absent – Present Achieve – Fail Add – Subtract Afraid – Confident After – Before Amateur – Professional Ancient – Modern Argue – Agree Arrive – Depart Arrogant – Humble Ascend – Descend Attack – Defend Awake – Asleep Bad – Good Beautiful – Ugly Before – After Better – Worse Big – Little Birth – Death Black – White Blunt – Sharp Bold – Timid Brave – Cowardly Brief – Long Bright – Dull Busy – Idle Buy – Sell Cautious – Careless Cheap – Expensive Clean – Dirty Close – Open Cold – Hot Complex – Simple Compliment – Insult Cool – Warm |
Joy – Sadness
Kind – Cruel Knowledge – Ignorance Last – First Laugh – Cry Less – More Lie – Truth Like – Dislike Likely – Unlikely Liquid – Solid Lonely – Crowded Long – Short Loose – Tight Lost – Found Love – Hate Major – Minor Man – Woman Marvelous – Terrible Mature – Immature Maximum – Minimum Mix – Separate Moist – Dry More – Less Most – Least Move – Stay Near – Far Never – Always New – Old Noisey – Quiet None – All North – South Nothing – Something Now – Then Obvious – Hidden Odd – Even Often – Seldom
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Stay – Leave
Stiff – Flexible Stop – Go Strength – Weakness Strong – Weak Student – Teacher Sturdy – Weak Sunny – Cloudy Superb – Inferior Tame – Wild Teach – Learn Temporary – Permanent Thin – Wide Tidy – Messy Timid – Bold Together – Apart Top – Bottom Toward – Away Tragic – Comic Transparent – Opaque Triumph – Defeat True – False Union – Separation Unique – Common Upset – Stabilize Urge – Deter Vacant – Occupied Vague – Definite Vertical – Horizontal Victory – Defeat Villain – Hero Visible – Invisible Wax – Wane Wealth – Poverty Well – Sick Wet – Dry
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This set of antonyms might have given you an idea about how antonyms work. Try to come up with an antonym for every word that you come across in daily life. This will help you improve your vocabulary as you are going to learn a lot of new words in the process.Being aware of terms like ‘antonyms’, ‘synonyms’ and what they mean will give your English learning efforts a boost. Happy Learning!
