antonymy
linguistics
Quick Summary
In linguistics, an antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word. For example, "chilly" is an antonym for "hot." While synonyms are words with similar meanings, antonyms express contrasting ideas. The English language has more words with synonyms than antonyms, as not everything has a direct opposite. The term "antonym" is relatively recent, appearing in the 1860s, unlike "synonym," which has been in use for over 500 years. Both "antonym" and "synonym" have adjectival forms: "antonymous" and "synonymous".123
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