To help the student: definition, types and examples of antonyms

Antonyms are words that are different in sound and have opposite meanings: false - true, evil - good, silent - to speak. Examples of antonyms show that they refer to the same part of speech.

Antonymy in Russian is represented much narrower than synonymy. This is explained by the fact that only words enter into antonymic relationships that are related in terms of quality (good - bad, native - alien, smart - stupid, thick - rare, high - low), temporary (day - night, early - late), quantitative (single - multiple, many - few), spatial (spacious - tight, large - small, wide - narrow, high - low) signs.

There are antonymic pairs designating names of states, actions. Examples of antonyms of this kind: rejoice - grieve, cry - laugh.

Types and examples of antonyms in Russian

Antonyms in structure are subdivided into different-root (morning - evening) and single-root (go in - go out). The opposite of meaning in the same root antonyms is caused by prefixes. However, it should be remembered that the addition of prefixes to adverbs and high-quality adjectives without -, not - in most cases gives them the meaning of a weakened opposite (high - low), so the contrast of their values ​​is "muffled" (low - this does not mean "low") . Based on this, not all prefixal formations can be attributed to antonyms, but only those that are the extreme points of the lexical paradigm: strong - powerless, harmful - harmless, successful - unsuccessful.

Antonyms, like synonyms, are closely related to polysemy: empty - serious (conversation); empty - full (cup); empty - expressive (look); empty - meaningful (story). Examples of antonyms show that different meanings of the word "empty" appear in different antonyms. Unambiguous words, as well as words with specific meanings (iambic, pencil, school desk, notebook, etc.) cannot have antonyms.

Among the antonyms, the phenomenon of enantiosemia is the development of mutually exclusive, opposite meanings of some ambiguous words: carry (to the room, bring) - carry (from the room, carry); abandoned (phrase just expressed) - abandoned (abandoned, forgotten). The meaning in such cases is specified in the context. Enantiosemia is often the cause of the ambiguity of certain expressions. Examples of antonyms of this kind: he listened to the report; the director scanned these lines.

Contextual antonyms are words contrasted in a specific context: moonlight - sunlight; not a mother, but a daughter; one day - all life; wolves are sheep. The polarity of the meanings of such words in the language is not fixed, and their opposition is an individual author’s decision. The writer in such cases reveals the opposing qualities of various concepts and contrasts them in speech. However, such word pairs are not antonyms.