Antonyms: Opposites

Antonyms are word pairs that are opposite in meaning, such as hot and cold, black and white, and in and out. Words may have different antonyms, depending on their meaning for example, both long and tall are antonyms of short.

Antonyms are broadly divided into three categories:

Graded Antonyms: These express relationships along a continuum.

Complementary Antonyms: These express binary relationships in which there is no middle-ground.

Relational Antonyms: Describe the same situation from opposite sides.

Graded Antonyms: - 
Pairs of graded antonyms belong on a scale. For example, good and bad are antonyms. However, if an essay, say, is not good, that does not mean it is bad. There is a whole scale including appalling, terrible, bad, poor, satisfactory, fair, good, excellent, incredible, etc.

1. dark - light
2. intelligent - stupid
3. dangerous - safe
4. evil - good
5. beautiful - ugly
6. best - worst
7. clever - foolish
8. early - late
9. easy - difficult
10. empty - full
11. fat - skinny
12. young - old
13. happy - sad
14. hard - soft
15. last - first
16. foolish - wise
17. quick - slow
18. warm - cool
19. wide - narrow
20. abundant - scarce
21. joy - grief
22. knowledge - ignorance
23. lazy - industrious
24. stiff - limp
25. miserable - happy
26. violent - gentle
27. chaos - order
28. soften - harden
29. nervous - calm
30. reckless - cautious
31. luxury - squalor
32. sweet - bitter

Complementary Antonyms: - 
Pairs of complementary antonyms represent the two opposite possibilities. (There is no continuum, or middle-ground, as in the examples above.) For example, one is either married, or single.

1. man - woman
2. push - pull
3. dead - alive
4. off - on
5. raise - lower
6. forget - remember
7. day - night
8. sadism - masochism
9. right - wrong
10. absent - present
11. against - for
12. exit - entrance
13. sink - float
14. employ - dismiss
15. married - single
16. question - answer
17. true - false
18. send - receive
19. attack - defend
20. accidental - intentional
21. former - latter
22. depart - arrive
23. exterior - interior
24. extinguish - ignite
25. solid - fluid
26. thaw - freeze
27. vacant - occupied
28. inward - outward
29. input - output
30. exhale - inhale
31. pass - fail
32. read - write

Relational Antonyms: -
There is a relationship in which the two opposites must both exist. For example, if someone is selling, there must be someone buying. Relational antonyms describe the same situation from opposite sides.

1. servant - master
2. husband - wife
3. doctor - patient
4. buy - sell
5. parent - child
6. borrow - lend
7. predator - prey
8. instructor - pupil
9. above - below
10. give - receive
11. teach - learn
12. come - go
13. toward - away
14. employer - employee
15. customer - supplier
16. divisor - dividend