antonym

noun [ˈæntəˌnɪm]

pronunciation

Editorial derivation from Webster 1913 stress mark (An"to*nym) and CMU Pronouncing Dictionary segments (anti; anton; synonym / -nym) via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs; lemma antonym absent from CMUdict, open source

Antonym labels a word of opposite meaning to another in the same language, a lexical foil, not a bare claim that two words merely differ.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Definitions

ling. A lexical unit opposed in meaning to another unit of the same language: a shared category with an opposite pole of sense. Hold the lexical frame: keep apart from a synonym, from a difference slogan that never names scope, and from rhetoric alone that never names a lexical pair.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
hist. lex. Webster 1913 records ANTONYM under the stress mark An"to*nym: opposite meaning, counterterm, correlative of synonym. The entry is marked rare [R.] and credited to C. J. Smith. Nearby scholarly talk still leans on the synonym pair.

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Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (ANTONYM), open source
hist. / ety. Skeat 1910 prints no antonym headword, yet under SYNONYM keeps F. synonyme, L. synonyma, and Gk. συνώνυμος (σύν + ὄνομα). The Warsaw Arct lexicon (1921) has no Antonim entry, though Synonim and Antyteza appear nearby; Brückner omits a headword. Full derivation sits under etymology.

source
Editorial team; facts: W. W. Skeat 1910 (no antonym; SYNONYM); M. Arct 1921 (no Antonim; Synonim; Antyteza); A. Brückner 1927 (no lemma), open source
colloq. Loose talk often pins the label on any opposite name that never asks about a shared axis. Edges blur. This page keeps opposition inside a shared category in view, not difference slogans alone.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Examples

The seminar handout on antonyms sat next to a synonym sheet and a list of opposite names that named no shared category.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Lexical semantics hours covered antonym; a separate lab handled thesaurus work without renaming the unit.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Sources on the card: Webster 1913 (ANTONYM, correlative of synonym); Arct 1921 silent on Antonim (Synonim, Antyteza present); Skeat 1910 and Brückner 1927 silent.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
A gloss that never separated lexical contrast from a claim of bare difference emptied antonym into slogans about another word.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
She compared an antonym pair (hot / cold; light / dark) with a synonym card and marked where contrast ended.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Usage

Outside class, people often paste antonym onto any opposite name that never names a shared axis. Seminar notes keep Webster's opposite-meaning frame plus counterterm as correlative of synonym, Skeat's silence on antonym beside the Greek nest under SYNONYM (σύν + ὄνομα), Arct's missing Antonim beside Synonim and Antyteza, and Brückner's silence. Drop those layers, and the name collapses into difference slogans alone.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Webster 1913 under ANTONYM records opposite meaning and the label counterterm, sets the word as synonym's correlative, marks stress An"to*nym, and notes rarity [R.] with credit to C. J. Smith. No antonym article appears in Skeat (1910); the Greek nest σύν + ὄνομα sits instead under SYNONYM, with F. synonyme and L. synonyma. Arct (1921) stays silent on Antonim; Synonim and Antyteza sit elsewhere in that lexicon. Brückner (1927) is silent. Facts first; etymology below.

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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (ANTONYM); W. W. Skeat 1910 (no antonym; SYNONYM); M. Arct 1921 (no Antonim; Synonim; Antyteza); A. Brückner 1927 (no lemma), open source

Scholarly English lets antonym cover lexical opposition with a shared category. Careful prose keeps the name off sheets that never ask which axis is meant, and off difference tags that never touch the stock. Authors still disagree on borders. Equating every opposite name with antonym drains the term. Founding dates for centres that study such pairs wait for a primary source at review.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Seminar rooms return to lexical contrast, semantics, and the foil with synonym versus bare other-word tags. Related classroom labels include antonymous and antonymy (outside Webster 1913 as separate headwords). Careful writers keep the name off copy that never names an axis of contrast. Borders stay open. The Polish match is antonim.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (ANTONYM); M. Arct 1921 (no Antonim), open source

Word forms

Countable noun in ordinary scholarly use (an antonym; several antonyms). Classroom adjective: antonymous (outside Webster 1913 as a separate headword). Related noun in later use: antonymy (outside Webster 1913 as a separate headword).

forms in use

przypadek	forma
singular	antonym
plural	antonyms
adjective (later / classroom)	antonymous (outside Webster 1913 as headword)
related noun (later / classroom)	antonymy (outside Webster 1913 as headword)

Word forms: Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (ANTONYM only as printed headword) · source

Collocations

lexical antonym

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
pair of antonyms

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
look up an antonym

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
dictionary of antonyms

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
strict antonym

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms word of opposite meaning / counterterm (near neighbour in Webster; confirm scope at review), opposite word (near neighbour in later scholarly English; confirm scope at review), antonim (classroom Polish match; confirm scope at review)

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (ANTONYM), open source

Antonyms synonym (lexical foil: a near-equivalent unit versus an opposite; not a strict antonym of the label alone), a word with a clearly similar meaning scope (lexical foil; editorial scope), a same-word identity tag with no named shade (contrastive neighbour; confirm at review)

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Etymology

English antonym joins Greek anti- (against, opposite) to the onoma / ὄνομα nest (name) and means of opposite name or opposite meaning, in parallel with synonym under syn- / σύν + ὄνομα. Webster 1913 prints ANTONYM (stress An"to*nym) for a counterterm of opposite sense used beside synonym, marks the entry rare [R.], and credits C. J. Smith. Skeat 1910 offers no antonym headword, yet under SYNONYM derives F. synonyme, L. synonyma, and Gk. συνώνυμος from σύν and ὄνομα (cognate with E. name). Arct's Warsaw foreign-word lexicon (9th ed., 1921) lacks an Antonim lemma; it does print Synonim (near-equivalent word; near-equivalent markers) plus Antyteza, Antagonizm, and Antagonista. Brückner 1927 offers no separate headword. Site wording is drafted apart from those dictionary lines. The Polish match is antonim.

source

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (ANTONYM: An"to*nym; correlative of synonym; C. J. Smith), open source

also

W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910 (no antonym; SYNONYM: Gk. συνώνυμος / σύν + ὄνομα), open source

also

M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921 (no Antonim; Synonim; Antyteza; Antagonizm; Antagonista), open source

also

A. Brückner, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego, Kraków 1927 (no separate lemma antonim), open source

Related words

antonymous , classroom adjective tied to the field (outside Webster 1913 as a separate headword)
antonymy , related noun in later scholarly English (outside Webster 1913 as a separate headword)
synonym , contrastive neighbour: a near-equivalent unit versus an opposite; live EN pair
antithesis , rhetorical neighbour: opposition (Arct: Antyteza); not always a lexical pair
thesaurus , lexicographic neighbour: a store of synonyms, antonyms, and related labels
antonim , related Polish noun (Arct: no Antonim; Webster: ANTONYM; Skeat: no antonym; Brückner: no lemma)

Related entries

The same entry in Polish: antonim

Questions and answers

What does antonym mean?

It names a word opposed in meaning to another, inside a shared category. Keep it apart from a synonym and from a difference tag that never names an axis of sense.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Where does the word antonym come from?

From the Greek anti- (against) nest plus ὄνομα (name), in parallel with synonym. Webster 1913 prints ANTONYM (An"to*nym) as a correlative of synonym. Skeat 1910 omits antonym but keeps σύν + ὄνομα under SYNONYM. Arct 1921 and Brückner 1927 omit the Polish headword.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913; W. W. Skeat 1910; M. Arct 1921; A. Brückner 1927, open source

How do you pronounce antonym, and which forms fit?

This page reads /ˈæntəˌnɪm/ from Webster An"to*nym stress and CMU segments (anti; anton; synonym / -nym) via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs; the lemma is absent from CMUdict. Plural: antonyms. Classroom adjective: antonymous. Related noun: antonymy. Confirm vowels and stress at review.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (An"to*nym); CMU Pronouncing Dictionary via pipeline/ipa-en.mjs (lemma antonym absent), open source

How does antonym differ from synonym and a bare other-word tag, and does Polish antonim match?

Antonym keeps opposition inside a shared category. Synonym names a near-equivalent; a bare other-word tag may name no axis. Polish antonim is the classroom match. The split is editorial; everyday speech often blurs the labels.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)