Find opposites (antonyms)

Enter the word you’d like to find antonyms for into the search box. Then click on the word you’re looking for in the drop-down menu that will appear underneath the search box. You’ll then be taken to a listing of all the matching opposites for your word.   

    Search and find opposites: antonyms & words with opposite meanings

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    Opposites / Antonyms Dictionary


    What is the opposite of dangerous and which antonyms are there for this word?

    You’ll find a quick answer to your questions about words with opposite meanings in our Antonym Dictionary.

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    Find words with opposite meanings


    Simply enter a word you’d like to find suitable antonyms for into the search box.

    There are several tens of thousands of entries in the Antonym Dictionary.

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    Searching for the opposite of a particular word? Our antonym database can surely help. Simply enter the word you want to find antonyms for into the search box above and click on the find button. You’ll then be shown a list of all the antonyms available for your word.


    What is an antonym?


    Antonym is a term stemming from semantics, a linguistic field involved in the analysis of word meanings. It takes its origins from the Greek words for "against, opposed to" and "name". Antonyms are pairs of words with opposite meanings, which is why they’re often simply referred to as opposites in English. The degree of contrast which antonyms can express is broad, ranging from the extreme, such as "hot" und "cold", to more subtle degrees of difference, as in "warm" und "cool". In addition, they are also used for defining opposing processes or directions. Semantically speaking, antonymy describes the relationship between two words which have opposite meanings. 


    Special Types of Antonyms


    One special type of antonyms are complementary antonyms. These words are mutually exclusive absolute opposites which cannot be graded, such "alive" and "dead".  An auto-antonym or antagonym is a word with converse multiple meanings, where one word contains reverse meanings. For example, the word "left" can mean "remaining" or "departed". In short, you can think of an auto-antonym as a word or phrase which contradicts itself.


    Structure


    Although many antonyms are formed from pairs of two distinct words, such as "random" and "specific", it is also possible to use prefixes to create an opposite meaning for a word, such as "agree" and "disagree". Common prefixes used to create antonyms include dis-, il-, in-, im-, ir-, and un-. Homonyms, or words that share the same pronunciation or spelling, such as "right" and "write" or "lead" (to guide) and "lead" (metal), have different antonyms corresponding to their various meanings.


    Antonym usage


    The ability to correctly pair up antonyms is also a task featured in IQ tests. Combining antonyms is often used as a rhetorical device, for example, in oxymorons such as "deafening silence" or paradoxes like "If I know one thing, it's that I know nothing." The opposite of antonym is synonym, which means, if need be, you could also find a synonym by negating an antonym.