Antonyms

~ w-s of the same category of speech which have contrasting meanings:

tall ≠ short, dead ≠ alive, to come ≠ to leave, over ≠ under, backwards ≠ forwards.

Ant-s occur usually in pairs ≠ synonyms which form often numerous groups:

to satisfy – to please (угождать, доставлять удовольствие) – to content (удовлетворять) – to gratify (удовлетворять, доставлять удовольствие, потворствовать) – to delight (доставлять наслаждение, восхищать) - to exalt (возвышать, возносить, возвеличивать; превозносить, восхвалять).

This isn’t quite true in reality:

cold ≠ warm (as a second ant-m); sorrow ≠ gaiety (веселье, развлечение)

On the other hand, a polysemantic w-d may have an ant-m (or several ant-s) for each of its meanings:

a short story ≠ a long story;

a short man ≠ a tall man;

to be short with smb. ≠ to be civil with smb.;

short memory ≠ good memory.

slow ≠ quick

a slow learner ≠ an intelligent learner (who doesn’t need a lot of time to understand simple things) a slow film ( slow weeks) ≠ busy, exciting, full of activity;

slow film for camera ≠ very sensitive to light (so it doesn’t take more time to take a photograph); a slow oven ≠ a hot oven.

Most ant-s — adjectives; it’s natural, as qualitative characteristics are easily compared & contrasted: clean ≠ dirty, late ≠ early, glad ≠sad, clever ≠ stupid.

Verbs take the 2^nd place: to buy ≠ to sell, to win ≠ to lose, to lend ≠ to borrow.

Nouns aren’t rich in ant-s: man ≠ woman, day ≠ night.

Antonymic adverbs c.b. ↔ into 2 groups:

1. adv-s derived from adj-s: weakly ≠ strongly, politely ≠ rudely, faintly ≠ greatly.

2. adv-s proper: up ≠ down, inside ≠ outside, now ≠ then, above ≠ below.

~ According to their structural characteristics ant-s m.b. ↔ into:

1. derivational ant-s: known ≠ unknown, appear ≠ disappear, happiness ≠ unhappiness, useful ≠ useless (negative prefixes: dis-, il-/im-/ in-/ ir-, un);

2. absolute ant-s: slow ≠ fast, old ≠ young, love ≠ hate;

3. mixed ant-s: correct ≠ incorrect, wrong, kind ≠ unkind, wicked.

~ According to their meaning ant-s m.b. ↔ into:

1. contrary ant-s—w-s, referring to contrary notions, present extreme(крайние) members of a regulated multitude(упорядоченного множества) & express contrary contrast(X—(≠)isn’t X, isn’t Y(≠)—Y): young—not young / not old “немолодой” / “нестарый”—old “старый”): big ≠ small, high ≠ low;

When a contrary ant-m negates some quality, it doesn’t imply the contrary quality. E.g.: Our house is not big. (Наш дом небольшой.) It doesn’t mean: Our house is small. (Наш дом маленький.) This characteristic differs contrary ant-s from contradictory.

2. contradictory ant-s—w-s refer to contradictory notions(формально противоречащие) (X—isn’t X); they have no the middle, intermediate link(звено): married ≠ single,

true ≠ false, agree ≠ disagree;

The negation of one member of the pair implies the assertion(утверждение) of the other, & the assertion of one member of the pair implies the negation of the other, i.e. they’re взаимоисключающие w-s. E.g.: John is single. (Джон холост.) — we imply: John isn’t married. (Джон не женат.), & vice versa: John is married. — we negate that he is single.

3. conversional ant-s—w-s, denoting the same situation, appear as different names of one & the same action, relation etc., reverse(обратные) from the p/view of opposed participants of the situation: to buy ≠ to sell, to give ≠ to receive, to tie ≠ to untie, husband ≠ wife, parent ≠ child, doctor ≠ patient;

4. векторно разнонаправленные ant-s—w-s expressing the contrast of разнонаправленных actions, qualities etc.: summer ≠ winter, North ≠ South,

East ≠ West, learn ≠ know, know ≠ forget, to arrive ≠ to depart.