Word.ws English Dictionary

near-antonym

near-antonym noun: a word that is nearly an antonym, when an antonym is defined strictly by complete negation or polar oppositeness. (Many reference works use a looser definition of antonym that lumps these words into the single category of antonyms; some make the more rigorous distinction.).

Noun

near-antonym (plural near-antonyms)

  1. A word that is nearly an antonym, when an antonym is defined strictly by complete negation or polar oppositeness. (Many reference works use a looser definition of antonym that lumps these words into the single category of antonyms; some make the more rigorous distinction.)
    • […] Near-antonyms may be treated in a similar fashion.1972, Frederick Wilfrid Lancaster, Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval, Information Resources Press, →ISBN, page 80
    • Among the most common antonyms or near antonyms are the following. Make sure that you know their meanings.1978, Jim Wayne Corder, Handbook of Current English, Scott, Foresman, →ISBN, page 308

Forms of near-antonym

pluralnear-antonyms
alternative formnear antonym

Origin of near-antonym

From near + antonym.

Questions about near-antonym

What does near-antonym mean?
Near-antonym means a word that is nearly an antonym, when an antonym is defined strictly by complete negation or polar oppositeness. (Many reference works use a looser definition of antonym that lumps these words into the single category of antonyms; some make the more rigorous distinction.).
What part of speech is near-antonym?
Near-antonym is a noun.
What is the plural of near-antonym?
The plural of near-antonym is near-antonyms.

Words near near-antonym in the dictionary

  1. near things
  2. near touch
  3. near touches
  4. near vision
  5. near-abroad
  6. near-antonym
  7. near-antonyms
  8. near-by
  9. near-death experience
  10. near-death experiences
  11. near-earth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: near-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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