Questions tagged [antonyms]
An antonym is a word with a meaning opposite to another word.
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Is there an antonym for "nonstick"?
I have a pan that is not a nonstick pan. Is there a word to describe it? Something less awkward than "non-nonstick"? Maybe "stick" or "sticky", but I've never heard those ...
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Antonym for Nightmare [duplicate]
Recently I was discussing nightmares vs. "good dreams" and realized there isn't a decent antonym (at least that I'm aware). My question is two-fold:
What is a good antonym for Nightmare?
Is ...
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What is the most suitable antonym for the word loud? [closed]
In terms of talking, what is the opposite of a loud voice?
For example, when someone is talking and I can not hear them properly, how can I say to them that their voice is very "opposite to loud&...
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How did the meaning of "hectic" become precisely the opposite of its meaning 100 years ago?
I found, a while ago, a small pocket dictionary published in 1921. There were several interesting words I found, but the word "hectic" caught my attention. I cannot remember the precise ...
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What is the opposite of deaf (n)?
Could someone help me with the (or "a") correct opposite of the noun deaf (deaf as defined in this National Association of the Deaf article)?
Non-deaf does not sound nice.
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Is there a term to describe words with opposites of the same form?
By "words with opposites of the same form", I mean word pairs such as:
Input/Output
Inhale/Exhale
Import/Export
and so forth.
Is there a term to describe such pairs?
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Antonyms and opposites
Is there an antonym for the verb besiege? asked for an “opposite” for the word besiege, with answers like occupy, barricade, where the person doing the barricading is inside the barrier, defending his ...
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The opposite of recline?
I'm aware of the difference between Prone vs. Supine vs. Prostrate, but I'm trying to find the opposite of the related word 'recline'.
Every web or dictionary search brings up 'upright' as the antonym ...
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Is there an antonym for the verb 'besiege'?
I am trying, and failing, to find an appropriate and succinct way of describing an individual's action in occupying a secure building to the exclusion of all others as a protest.
I could say 'he ...
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What word could be used to mean "legacy" of something that did not already exist?
I am an ecologist writing a paper about disturbed forests (i.e. forests that are affected by things like forest fires, insects, and pathogens). It is common in my field to use the term "material ...
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What is the relation to the pre- and post- words of an event?
What would be the connection to words indicating the 'pre-' stage and the 'post-' stage of an event or action. E.g. 'preparation' and 'packing up' are similar in that they're sort of the mirror of ...
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Referent vs Inference vs Profer as options for use in comparison against Reference
“I use an audio trace as a reference to allow me to compare how my mixed track of [ ] background music resembles the reference.”
My answer would be product for the blank space, where we compare ...
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Term or phrase that means the reverse of "is located at/within"
Consider a thing that is located within another thing, say a particular store (not one of a chain of stores, but a distinct non-fungible individual store) within a particular mall.
We can describe the ...
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Is there a word for sets of words with related meaning in English, like 'yellow' and 'green' or 'January' and 'February'?
I'm learning the Indonesian language, and they took the word 'antonim' from Dutch (antonym in English), but changed and expanded the meaning. In Indonesian, 'green' is an antonym of 'yellow' and '...
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Is there a direct antonym to affirm?
I've seen affirm defined as "To say that something is true in a confident way." I've looked at various antonyms, and antonyms of synonyms of affirm and none seem appropriate. I'm wondering ...
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What is an antonym for 'one-to-one'?
I am writing a perspective for a general medical science audience. The following adapted figure will be included in the publication:
The figure title appearing in the legend includes the following ...
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Looking for an opposite to "sacrifice" (n.) in a specific context
I'm looking for a word or phrase with an opposite meaning to "sacrifice", as used below:
"They had to make sacrifices in order for us to meet the deadline, since the recent event ...
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Opposite of invariant
I look for the opposite of "invariant" in the context of scientific language.
If you look at this example sentence:
[...] Although it is translationally and rotationally invariant,
it is ...
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What is a word or term with an opposite or complementary meaning to "flaky person"? [closed]
One good candidate would be "reliable", but I am looking for a word with more direct connotations to social behavior like flaky has.
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Aesthetically pleasing antonym for "afar"?
I'm writing an introduction for my PhD thesis. The text has to sound natural and formal, but can also have glimpses of poetry and broadness. I would like to express that a problem will be addressed ...
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Antonym for purist? [closed]
Does a word exist that could accurately be used as an antonym for 'purist', which is a person who insists on absolute adherence to traditional rules or structures, especially in language or style.
I ...
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Opposite of wailing to describe how a cello sounds
I'm looking for a word to nicely describe how a cello sounds, and I think that an opposite of wailing might be a good description.
The definition for wail describes a high-pitched tone:
Wail
1 A ...
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Why do we have different words for countable/uncountable quantity in the decreasing direction but not the increasing direction?
Why do we differentiate between "fewer" for a countable quantity and "less" for an uncountable one but not between countable and uncountable quantities for "more"? Is ...
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Any antonyms of be? [closed]
Is there any word that is the opposite of the verb, "be?" That is, the state of not existing?
Several thesauruses give answers related to the termination of existence -- die, cease, desist, ...
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What are the antonyms of well and swell? [closed]
I know that the antonym of good is bad, but I’ve always wondered what the antonyms of well (as in a adjective: “I am well”) and swell (as in a adjective: “a swell morning today”)
because these words ...
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What is the word for the complementary relationship implied by the word dependent?
Dependency is directional. Starting a car is dependent on petrol. But petrol is not dependent on starting a car.
What word describes the relationship from petrol to the car?
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How might greedy ever be a synonym of parsimonious?
thesaurus.com puts 'avaricious' at the top of its list of synonyms for 'parsimonious', and 'greedy' a little further down. To my mind, an essential sense of parsimony is self-denial.
The only way I ...
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Antonym of "target"
I am looking for antonyms (nouns) of "target". Here, I meant target in the sense
"something that one hopes or intends to accomplish" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/...
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What will be the antonym of "appreciate" in this context?
In Mumbai the value of properties has appreciated, but the quality of life has __________.
Can we use "depreciated" here?
Edit: The antonym needs to imply that the quality of life is not ...
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What is the best antonym for "influencer"? [duplicate]
Which word is the best antonym for "influencer"? For "influencer", I am referring to its general meaning:
:one who exerts influence : a person who inspires or guides the actions ...
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Opposite of preparation / is there a word for winding down after an event? [closed]
Idea
I am wondering, if I prepare before an event by getting into my running clothes and we call this "preparation".
Is there a word for then getting out of my running clothes after the ...
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What's the equal and opposite proverb of "Variety is the spice of life"?
It is a little-known law that most proverbs have an equal and opposite. For example...
Too many cooks spoil the broth: Many hands make light work.
Fortune favours the brave: Fools rush in where ...
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Is there an antonym for "paucity" that means not scarce and not necessarily but possibly enough?
I am trying to fill in the blank in this sentence: "There is a(n) ___ of research on this topic."
Using the word paucity would imply, to me, that I feel there is definitely not enough ...
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Looking for two synonyms for success/failure which rhyme [closed]
I’m looking for two words with the following conditions:
Word A is a synonym of “success” (or is the word “success”).
Word B is a synonym of “failure” (or is the word “failure”).
Words A and B rhyme.
...
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What is the opposite of the suffix -cide? [duplicate]
All the words ending with the suffix -cide explain what was killed. Is there a suffix for what did the killing? Killed by hammer, killed by fall, etc.?
Thanks.
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Is 'Pious' an antonym of itself?
I met a person recently who challenged my use of the word 'pious' for I thought it meant a devout and 'as unpretending as’ humanly possible toward religion, yet the other person thought I was speaking ...
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Antonym of operational in the sense of larger scope, and non-recurrence but not military
I'm looking for a word in that is an antonym of operational in something other than "does it function" and the online dictionary/thesaurus don't have it. Can you help me find the word, and ...
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antonym for 'culture'?
'Culture' is used to indicate something being normalized. For example: "rape culture"
Is there a word/phrase or anything to describe the opposite of this? Is there a word/phrase that I can ...
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Single noun meaning completed task
Assuming that a task is a piece of work to be completed, is there a single word or noun that would be the antonym of a task, meaning a piece of work that has been completed?
So far my best bet is ...
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Is deep the opposite of shallow?
I came across a text today that suggested that deep is the opposite of shallow but I found this difficult to digest. Furthermore, it feels one could use shallow as the opposite of deep but not vice ...
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Antonym of "response"
Suppose you're on an internet forum. If post Y is a response to post X, then X is a [WHAT] to Y? What's the antonym of "response", here? The word coming to mind is "antecedent", ...
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Is there a positive version of "tempt"? [closed]
The verb "to tempt" refers to enticing or influencing somebody to do something, with strong connotations of that thing being something wrong, something they should not do. But when I think ...
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What is the opposite of 'owe'?
I want to know what is the opposite of 'owe'.
For example,
I owe you $10
If I want to say the opposite I have to reverse it and say,
you owe me $10
But sometimes I feel I should start with 'I' not ...
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Word for exchanging several banknotes of small values, with ONE banknote that is equal to their collective value
When we want to exchange a banknote of a high value (say a $100) with ones lesser in value (say $50 + $20 + $20 + $10), we say: "I want to break this $100".
If you needed to do the opposite, ...
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What would the opposite of "suburb" be?
In North American English, a suburban area, or suburb, is a town or community located near a city which is mainly comprised of the homes of people who work in the city. My question is: what would the ...
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What are some antonyms for salvation? [closed]
I'm writing an essay on how immigrants came to the US in the 1900s for salvation, but instead, they got the opposite. However, I'm looking for a more complex word; it'll sound boring if I just say it ...
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Is factoid an Auto-antonym?
I had thought factoid meant "a brief or trivial item of news or information"
But now I googled the meaning and it says,
In most examples of janus words online the meanings are quite exactly ...
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What's the opposite of "grow up" when used as an interjection?
In casual conversation, one is often told to "Grow up!", ie be more mature and more like an adult. What would be the most accurate phrase to express the opposite sentiment - you need to ...
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What is the opposite of "brute-force"?
In computer science especially, a brute-force algorithm is one that is naive and straightforward. It may succeed but only in a primitive way—trying all the obvious operations one by one. This wastes ...
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Not-quite-opposite of "inherit", someone from whom you inherit without their mentioning you in a will [closed]
What is the verb for being the non-volitional source of an inheritance? For example:
I "inherit" a car from my parent when they die. My parent "_____" a car to me when they die.
...
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