Antonyms in English. Classification of Antonyms

Antonyms — a class of words grouped together on the basis of the semantic relations of opposition. Antonyms are words belonging to one part of speech sharing certain common semantic characteristics and in this respect they are similar to such semantic classes as synonyms, lexical sets, lexico-semantic groups. There exist different classifications of antonyms.
Structurally, antonyms can be divided into antonyms of the same root, e.g. to do — to undo, cheerful — cheerless: and antonyms of different roots. e.g. day — night, rich — poor.
Semantically, antonyms may be classified into:
1. Contradictories represent the type of semantic relations that exist between pairs like, for example, dead — alive, single — married. Contradictory antonyms are mutually opposed, they deny one another. Contradictories form a privative binary' opposition, they are members of two-term sets.
2. Contraries are antonyms that can be arranged into a series according to the increasing difference in one of their qualities. The most distant elements of this series will be classified as contrary notions. This may be observed in cold — hot and cool — warm which are intermediate members. Thus, we may regard as antonyms not only cold and hot but also cold and warm. Contrary antonyms may also be considered in terms of degrees of the quality involved. Thus, water may be cold or very cold.
3. Incompatibles are antonyms which are characterized by the relations of exclusion. Semantic relations of incompatibility exist among antonyms with a common component of meaning and may be described as the reverse of hyponymy. For example, to say morning is to say not afternoon, not evening, and not night. The use of one member of this set implies the exclusion of the other members of the set.