Antonyms - what is it?

Antonyms are meanings opposed to each other in meaning, but belonging to the same part of speech. They have different spelling and sound. It is very simple to determine the meaning of one antonym through another; it is enough to give it the form of negation. For example, the direct antonym, by the way, say - do not be silent, sad - not cheerful, and so on. In this article, we will examine in more detail the concept of “antonyms” and find out their types.

General information

Due to the richness of the Russian language, there are many nuances and subtleties in any part of speech. It is not for nothing that numerous textbooks on linguistics are studied in schools and some higher educational institutions.

1. It is noteworthy that due to the polysemy of linguistic units, the antonyms of the same word in different contexts are different. For example: old boar - young boar, old car - new car, old cheese - fresh cheese and so on.
2. Not every lexical unit has antonyms. They are not, for example, in the words to sew, institute, book, and so on.
3. The main sign is the opposition of words, which can mean:

• signs of the subject ( smart - stupid, evil - kind) ;
• social and natural phenomena ( talent - mediocrity, heat - cold );
• states and actions ( disassemble - collect, forget - remember ).

Types of Antonyms

They are different in structure.

• Single-root antonyms are words that are opposite in meaning, but have one root. For example: love - dislike, progress - regression . They are formed by attaching prefixes (non-, without / s-, re-, de- and so on).
• Different root antonyms are words that are polar in meaning and have different roots. For example: large - small, black - white .

The first kind, in turn, is also divided into: antonyms-euphemisms (loyally express the opposite, difference, for example: significant - insignificant) and enantioses (express the opposition with the same word, for example: browse (in the sense of see) and browse (in the sense of skip).

Another group is also distinguished: contextual antonyms are words that differ in meaning only in a particular case. For example, in the author's performance: she had not eyes - but eyes .

By value, antonyms are as follows.

• Opposite: they denote the polarity of actions, phenomena or signs. As a rule, a word with a neutral meaning can be put between such antonyms: joy - apathy - sadness, positive - indifference - negative.
• Vector: they indicate multidirectional actions: put on - take off, open - close.
• Contradictory: indicate the polarity of objects, phenomena and signs, each of which excludes the other. It is impossible to put a neutral word between them: to the right - to the left.

Antonyms Functions

In the sentence, antonyms play a stylistic role and are used to make speech more expressive. Often they are used as an antithesis (contrast, contrast). Example: "Who was nobody will become everything." Sometimes antonyms form an oxymoron (a compound of an incompatible). Example: "Hot Snow", "Living Corpse".

Antonyms are widely used not only in the names of works, but also in proverbs and sayings.