Antonyms

We use the term “antonym” to denote words of the same category of parts of speech which have contrasting meanings, such as hot-cold, light-dark, happiness-sorrow, to accept-to reject, up-down.

Antonyms can be divided into a) complementary and b) contrary, the first ones have no intermediate forms and form a complete notion if taken together: dead-alive; true-false; живий-мертвий; справжній-фальшивий.

According to their structure antonyms can be derivational and semantical. Derivational antonyms are formed by adding affixes to roots. In the English language the prefixes un-, in-/il-/ir/-im, dis-, mis- and adjectival suffix –less, and derivatives with prefixes which are derived from antonymous prepositions:

True-untrue	Easy-uneasy
Firm-infirm	Legal-illegal
Regular-irregular	Proper-improper
Honest-dishonest	Understand-misunderstand
Merciful-merciless	Careful-careless
Thoughtful-thoughtless	Harmful-harmless
Painful-painless	Do-undo
Believe-disbelieve	Appear-disappear
Indoor-outdoor	Overestimate-underestimate

Negative affixes do not automatically form words with opposite meanings. E.g .: different-indifferent are not antonyms.

In the Ukrainian language the prefix не- is almost universal. It is added to adjectives and nouns and forms complimentary antonyms. The same function is fulfilled by the prefix без- which when used together with different suffixal morphemes forms antonyms in nominal parts of speech:

Правда-неправда	Дружній-недружній
Чистий-нечистий	Зрозумілий-незрозумілий
Милість-немилість	Свобода-несвобода
Болісний-безболісний	Лісистий-безлісний
Вусатий-безвусий	Гарний-негарний

Negative affixes in the English language usually form derivational antonyms and in the Ukrainian language prefix без- usually creates antonyms to words formed from other stems:

Боязкий-безстрашний, розумний-безглуздий, порядок-безладдя.

In the Ukrainian language the negative particle не - is written separately from the verbs, so verbal derivational antonyms are formed with the help of prefixes роз-, а-, анти-, де-, дез- and prefixes formed from pronouns:

Підходити-відходити	Увійти-вийти
Підземний-надземний	Заплутати-розплутати
Логічний-алогічний	Мобілізувати-демобілізувати
Стабілізація-дестабілізація	Інфікувати-дезінфікувати

Antonyms usually appear in pairs, though polysemantic words may have an antonym or antonyms for each of their meanings. E.g., adjective dull may have such antonyms as amusing, interesting, entertaining for its meaning “deficient of interest”; clever, bright, capable for its meaning “deficient in intellect”; active for its meaning “deficient in activity”.

Antonyms are not equally distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives which is only natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted: wide-narrow, high-low, strong-weak, old-young, friendly-hostile etc.

Verbs take the second place, as far as antonyms are concerned. Yet, verbal parts of antonyms are fewer in number: to lose-to find, to stop- to begin, to open –to close etc.

Nouns are not rich in antonyms, but some examples can be found: friend-enemy, good-evil, heaven-earth etc.

Antonymic adverbs can de divided into two groups:

a) adverbs derived from adjectives: warmly, hardly, merrily, sadly, loudly, softly, coldly;

b) adverbs proper: now-then; ever-never; up-down; in-out.

Antonyms are often used in the stylistic device called antithesis. A translator should be careful in choosing the proper word as the sems which are absent in different languages may be involved in it. In the English language the prefixes un-, in-/il-/ir/-im, dis-, mis- and adjectival suffix –less, and derivatives with prefixes which are derived from antonymous prepositions:

True-untrue	Easy-uneasy
Firm-infirm	Legal-illegal
Regular-irregular	Proper-improper
Honest-dishonest	Understand-misunderstand
Merciful-merciless	Careful-careless
Thoughtful-thoughtless	Harmful-harmless
Painful-painless	Do-undo
Believe-disbelieve	Appear-disappear
Indoor-outdoor	Overestimate-underestimate

Negative affixes do not automatically form words with opposite meanings. E.g .: different-indifferent are not antonyms.

In the Ukrainian language the prefix не- is almost universal. It is added to adjectives and nouns and forms complimentary antonyms. The same function is fulfilled by the prefix без- which when used together with different suffixal morphemes forms antonyms in nominal parts of speech:

Правда-неправда	Дружній-недружній
Чистий-нечистий	Зрозумілий-незрозумілий
Милість-немилість	Свобода-несвобода
Болісний-безболісний	Лісистий-безлісний
Вусатий-безвусий	Гарний-негарний

Negative affixes in the English language usually form derivational antonyms and in the Ukrainian language prefix без- usually creates antonyms to words formed from other stems:

Боязкий-безстрашний, розумний-безглуздий, порядок-безладдя.

In the Ukrainian language the negative particle не - is written separately from the verbs, so verbal derivational antonyms are formed with the help of prefixes роз-, а-, анти-, де-, дез- and prefixes formed from pronouns:

Підходити-відходити	Увійти-вийти
Підземний-надземний	Заплутати-розплутати
Логічний-алогічний	Мобілізувати-демобілізувати
Стабілізація-дестабілізація	Інфікувати-дезінфікувати

Antonyms usually appear in pairs, though polysemantic words may have an antonym or antonyms for each of their meanings. E.g., adjective dull may have such antonyms as amusing, interesting, entertaining for its meaning “deficient of interest”; clever, bright, capable for its meaning “deficient in intellect”; active for its meaning “deficient in activity”.

Antonyms are not equally distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives which is only natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted: wide-narrow, high-low, strong-weak, old-young, friendly-hostile etc.

Verbs take the second place, as far as antonyms are concerned. Yet, verbal parts of antonyms are fewer in number: to lose-to find, to stop- to begin, to open –to close etc.

Nouns are not rich in antonyms, but some examples can be found: friend-enemy, good-evil, heaven-earth etc.

Antonymic adverbs can de divided into two groups:

a) adverbs derived from adjectives: warmly, hardly, merrily, sadly, loudly, softly, coldly;

b) adverbs proper: now-then; ever-never; up-down; in-out.

Antonyms are often used in the stylistic device called antithesis. A translator should be careful in choosing the proper word as the sems which are absent in different languages may be involved in it.

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