complementary antonym
complementary antonym noun: a term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
Noun
complementary antonym (plural complementary antonyms)
- A term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
- Synonyms:
- binary antonym, contradictory antonym
- One of a pair of words wherein affirmative use of one entails the negative of the other with no gradability.
- Complementary (also called contradictory) antonyms are those for which the assertion of one entails the negation of the other and vice versa, as in (17).
a. That integer is even. → That integer is not odd.
b. That integer is not odd. → That integer is even.2010, M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning, page 120
- Complementary (also called contradictory) antonyms are those for which the assertion of one entails the negation of the other and vice versa, as in (17).
Synonyms of complementary antonym
Forms of complementary antonym
| plural | complementary antonyms |
|---|
Questions about complementary antonym
- What does complementary antonym mean?
- Complementary antonym means a term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
- What part of speech is complementary antonym?
- Complementary antonym is a noun.
- What is the plural of complementary antonym?
- The plural of complementary antonym is complementary antonyms.
Words near complementary antonym in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: complementary antonym (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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