Synonyms and Antonyms

What are Synonyms?

Synonyms are words which are used as substitutes for other words. Sometimes, synonyms need not mean exactly the same as the other word. They can also be a close substitute which means they can mean nearly the same as the other word.

Synonyms can belong to any word category

Category	Word	Synonym	Synonym
Noun	Paramour	Lover	Beau
Adjective	Pleasing	Alluring	Fetching
Verb	Scan	Swindle	Deceive
Adverb	Candidly	Blatantly	Flagrantly

English is a language that has multiple influences. The socio-political history of England has helped shape the language into what it is today. Imperialism also had a big impact on the English language since the British took home new words from the countries they had colonised. Today, we have in English, words originating in Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic and other colonial languages. It also has words that have originated in French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Word	Meaning	Language of Origin
Ketchup A condiment		Chinese
Gung-ho	Enthusiastic	Chinese
Tycoon	An industrialist	Chinese
Gunny	A sack	Sanskrit
Juggernaut	An unstoppable object	Sanskrit
Mahout	Elephant rider	Sanskrit
Alcohol	An intoxicant	Arabic
Magazine	Storage	Arabic
Zenith	Highest point	Arabic
Gaffe Mistake		French
Riposte	A sharp reply	French
Macabre	Gruesome	French
Incommunicado	Not communicating	Spanish
Bonanza	A profit, a rich find	Spanish
Armada	Fleet of ships	Spanish
Bravura	An act of bravery	Italian
Imbroglio	A big quarrel	Italian
Virtuoso	Someone who is skilled	Italian

Usage of Synonyms

Synonyms are used for the purpose of bringing variety in language. Apart from this, synonyms are also used to match the register and the mode of communication.

	Neutral Formal Informal
Buy		Purchase	Get
Complete		Exhaustive	Whole-hog
TV		Television	Telly
Children		Offspring	Kids
Criminals		Offenders	Crooks
Stupid		Imbecile	Dumb
Tired of		Dissatisfied	Sick of
Parents		Progenitors	Folks

Synonyms are also used to distinguish speech from writing. Some words are preferable in writing, while some sound better in speech. Often, one reserves formal and sophisticated words for writing and casual words for speech.

	Writing Speech
Subsequently		Later
Alas!		Oh no!
In sum		To sum up
Awe-inspiring		Awesome
Recalibrated		Measured again
For (conjunction)		Because (conjunction)

Synonyms are also used to replace the archaic or obsolete words in the English language.

	Archaic Word Modern Counterpart
Behove		Responsibility
Brimstone		Sulphur
Dispraise		Criticise
Handmaid		Female servant
Meat		Any type of food
Scaramouch		A braggart
Wherefore		For what reason
Yonder		Over there
Smite		Conquer
Saturnism		Lead poisoning
Rede		Advice

Sometimes, a word does not do justice to the emotion behind it. The tone or the emotion behind a person’s voice can also dictate which word has to be used.

The words annoyed and indignant are synonyms. However, indignant is more intense and forceful than annoyed. A simple delay may make the subject annoyed, but misbehaviour is bound to cause indignation.

What are Antonyms?

In contrast with synonyms, antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning to the other. This may sound strange, but often, to understand a word better, we have to look at its antonym. We learn the meaning of the word by understanding how it contrasts with its antonym.

Like synonyms, there can be more than one antonym for a given word.

Category	Word	Antonym	Antonym
Noun	ally	foe	detractor
Adjective	bold	lily-livered	cowardly
Verb	sanctify	desecrate	ravage
Adverb	completely	inadequately	partially

Types of Antonyms

There are three types of antonyms:

Gradable antonyms
Complementary antonyms
Relational antonyms

Gradable Antonyms

Gradable antonyms are words which are the extreme opposites of each other. Imagine a spectrum or a scale. Gradable antonyms will be at equal distances from the centre on the scale. However, these words may have a spectrum of words between them. All these words may exist together on the same scale.

Horrible Bad Mediocre Good Excellent

In the above example, Horrible is the polar opposite of the word Excellent. But together, they exist on the same spectrum as Bad, Mediocre and Good. Each word on the spectrum is an antonym of the other. For example, the word Good is the antonym of Horrible, Bad, Mediocre and Excellent.

loving	hateful	confident	overconfident	black	white
virtuous	impious	ancient	modern	billionaire	pauper

Complementary Antonyms

Unlike gradable antonyms which have a spectrum of words between them, complementary antonyms are words which express two extreme ideas without the possibility of ‘middle’ words. They do not lie on a continuous scale and are the exact opposites of each other.

complete	incomplete	unique	ordinary	flawless	blemished
dead	living	drunk	sober	unlimited	limited

Relational Antonyms

Relational antonyms are words which are opposite to each other by the virtue of their relationship alone. One finds meaning through the existence of the other. For example, the word up exists in relation to the word down.

grandparent	grandchildren	employee	employer	husband	wife
host	guest	predator	prey	perpetrator	victim