opposite#

opposite n contradictory, contrary, antithesis, antipode, antonym (see under OPPOSITE adj)

opposite adj Opposite, contradictory, contrary, antithetical, antipodal, antipodean, antonymous are comparable chiefly as applied to abstractions and as meaning so far apart as to be or to seem irreconcilable with each other. The same differences in applications and implications are found in their corresponding nouns, opposite, contradictory, contrary, antithesis, antipode, antonym, when they mean one of two things which are opposite or contradictory. Opposite is the inclusive term; it may be used interchangeably with any of the others, though few of the others are interchangeable in precise use.

Opposite may be used to describe the relation of either of two abstract elements (as ideas, terms, statements, qualities, or forces) to the other when they are set against each other so as to bring out sharply the contrast, conflict, or antagonism between them

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opposite views

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attraction and repulsion are opposite forces

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the plant does two opposite things at once. It is making sugar from carbon dioxide . . . and at the same time burning a little sugar— Michael Graham

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his private thesis that correction . . . entails retreat to a diametric opposite rather than any reasonable search for a golden mean— Pynchon

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Contradictory, though often used as an equivalent of opposite, may retain its fundamental implication of denial, and therefore, especially when it is applied to terms, propositions, and principles, may further imply that if one of the two opposites be true, the other must be false, or if one be false, the other must be true

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contradictory predictions are being made, some gloomy, some optimistic— Farrell

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Words, propositions, or principles that are contradictory in this strict sense are mutually exclusive and, therefore, admit no possibilities between; thus, "John is English" and "John is not English" are contradictory statements, one of which must be false if the other is true; alive and dead are contradictory terms because they cannot both be truly applied to the same thing

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stamped with the mint of our contradictory popular culture (where sex is sin and yet sex is paradise)— Mailer

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Contrary (see also CONTRARY 2) as applied to intentions, motives, and opinions usually implies extreme divergence with no basis for agreement

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take a contrary view of the situation

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from the center of capitalist and imperialistic America he seemed to diffuse a contrary purely humanitarian influence— Santayana

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he maintained that the contrary was true

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But especially as applied to terms and propositions contrary may imply diametrical opposition or the greatest conceivable or possible difference between the things opposed. Contraries are poles apart; unlike contradictories both may be false, for they represent extremes and do not mutually exclude every other possibility; thus, destitute and opulent are contrary terms as applicable to a person's circumstances, but they may be inapplicable in a vast number of particular cases for they describe only the extremes; "John is parsimonious" and "John is prodigal" are contrary statements, but John in truth may be neither parsimonious nor prodigal, but merely close, or thrifty, or free, or liberal, in the expenditure of money

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a theory for which neither physics nor common sense can offer confirmatory or contrary evidence—Clement

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Antithetical and especially antithesis (see also COMPARISON) imply an intent to set the thing under consideration against its opposite, usually its diametrical opposite, in order to emphasize its significance or to reveal or define sharply its true nature. Both words are applicable to persons and things regarded objectively as well as to ideas, qualities, and terms

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antithetical symbolism of ice and flame— Rees

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that mystic faith in unseen powers which is the antithesis of materialism— Rose Macaulay

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the essential interests of men and women are eternally antithetical— Mencken

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Although antipodal or antipodean and the corresponding noun, antipode, which often occurs as the plural antipodes with singular or plural construction, also imply diametrical opposition, they do not suggest a logical relation but rather emphasize the unlikeness and the remoteness from each other of the things contrasted. So strong are these implications that often the things contrasted are only figuratively, not generically, opposites, and the contrast constitutes in a sense an inverse simile

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the unspannable gulf between the two brothers is widened by their antipodal attitudes toward money— Be hr man

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flashy, crude, essentially shallow, but nevertheless at the antipodes from villainy. He is good-hearted and generous— Walcutt

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the very antipode of Gropius. Where the American is romantic, the German is rationalistic— Werner

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Antonymous and antonym are applicable only to a word or term which is so opposed to another in meaning that it, in effect, negates or nullifies every implication of it. Antonyms or antonymous words may be contradictory or contrary terms, as defined, or they may be terms which negate other terms by implying the undoing or reversing of what is denoted by them; thus, retain is the contradictory antonym of lose, but recover is the reverse antonym of lose.

Analogous words: reverse, converse (see corresponding nouns at CONVERSE): antagonistic, *adverse, counter, counteractive

Contrasted words: reconciling, conforming, adapting, adjusting (see ADAPT): consistent, compatible, congruous, congenial, *consonant