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 Binary Opposites (also known as complementary antonyms,

contradictory terms & ungradable opposites)

These are pairs of antonyms in the case of which the truth of one word in

the pair implies the falsity of the other and similarly the falsity of one implies the

truth of the other. Being "not X" automatically means being "Y" and being "not Y"

means being "X".

  John is married implies John is not single.

  Similarly, John is not married implies John is single.

If one is alive he can't be dead, or vise versa, and similarly: if one is

married he (or she) can't be single. There is no choice between the two opposites

or extremes. Binary Opposites have a relationship where there is no middle

ground or scale that is involved between the two words. There are only two

possibilities, either one or the other. Examples are alive and dead : you are either

alive or dead , not somewhere in-between. To sum up, Binary antonymy is a

relation in which two members of a pair of antonyms:

(a) are mutually exclusive: not alive is dead and not dead is alive.

(b) are exhaustive in the sense that these pairs can't both be false.

(c) cannot be used in a comparative or superlative sense:

*He is more single/more married than his brother .

(d) cannot be used in questions with how to ask about degrees:

*How single/How married is he? 

On and off are binary antonyms: an electric light or a radio or a television

set is either on or off; there is no middle ground.

Gradable Opposites (or Graded antonyms)

They describe something which can be measured and compared with

something else. They are pairs of words that belong to a scale or continuum. The

group of graded antonyms encompasses any two words that are on opposing sides

of spectrum. Gradable antonyms represent points on a scale that are roughly

equal in distance from the middle of the scale. They are  usually adjectives that can

be put on a scale.

These are pairs of antonyms in the case of which the truth of one word in

the pair implies the falsity of the other, but the falsity of one does not

necessarily imply the truth of the other. 

This book is good implies This book is not bad. This book is not good does not

necessarily imply that the book is really bad.

In a nutshell, Gradable antonymy is a relation in which two members of a pair of 

antonyms:

(a) are gradable: between hot and cold are three “intermediate terms”

[Palmer, 1981: 95] warm, tepid (or lukewarm) and cool .

(b) can be used in a comparative or superlative sense: wider is less narrow,

more difficult is less easy, etc.

(c) can be used in questions with how to ask about degrees:

How difficult is the test?

Thus, "hot" and "cold" are a pair of gradable antonyms because between

them there is a continuous scale of values and express relationships along a

continuum:

scorching – hot   – warm – lukewarm (tepid) – cool – cold   – freezing

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Converse Terms (or relational antonyms)

They are pairs of antonyms in the case of which the existence of one

word in the pair inevitably implies the existence of the other.

 Ahmed sold a car to Mohamed implies that 

Mohamed bought a car from Ahmed.

Converse Terms are lexical units whose meanings are opposed in such a way that

sentences in which they appear can be interchangeable if words, etc. to which

they are syntactically related are distributed differently across a range of similar

syntactic roles. In this type of antonymy, there is a relationship in which the two

opposites must both exist and one cannot exist without the other. These

antonyms depend on each other. For example, buy and sell . You cannot buy

something without someone else selling it to you. Converse Terms are those

where one cannot exist without the other. For example, if someone is a husband

there must also be a wife, and if someone is a parent then there must also be a

child. The next paired sentences contain converse predicates: 

1a.John lent Mary five dollars.

1b.Mary borrowed five dollars from John

2a. Sally is Jerry’s wife. (Sally is the wife of Jerry) 

2b. Jerry is Sally’s husband. (Jerry is the husband of Sally) 

3a. The map is above the chalkboard.

3b. The chalkboard is below the map.

The following are examples of converse antonyms:

above – below, before – after, behind – in front of, buy – sell,

give – receive, husband – wife, parent – child, speak – listen.

Two members of a pair of relational antonyms display symmetry in their

meaning. If Mr. Brown is Jack’s employer, then Jack is Mr. Brown’s employee; if 

Jenny is thinner than Mary, then Mary is fatter than Jenny; if John bought a car

from Fred, then Fred sold a car to John; etc.

Relational antonyms belong to various word classes:

  Verbs: buy--sell, give--receive, lend--borrow, import--

export, own--belong t o, etc.

  Nouns: employer--employee, grandparent--grandchild, father/mother--

son/daughter, parent--child, professor--student, teacher--pupil, doctor--

patient, landlord/landlady--tenant, husband--wife, etc.

  Comparative adjectives: thinner--fatter, cheaper -- more expensive,

greater than--less than, etc.

  Prepositions: above--below, in front of--behind , over--under, before--

after, north of--south of, west of--east of, etc.

 Multiple Incompatibles:

The most disputed category of the four types of antonymy is called

"multiple incompatibles" (Lyons 1977). Multiple Incompatibles include, for

example, the closed set of the seasons of the year, in which winter is incompatible

with summer, fall and spring. Like gradable opposites, which the truth of one

word in the pair implies the falsity of the other, but the falsity of one does not

necessarily imply the truth of the other. 

Antonyms like liquid and solid , for example, are taken from the system of 

physical state, gas being the remaining term of the three-term system. The

quantum of opposition here is not as strong as it is in the case of binary opposites.

Some linguists do not consider such opposites at all.