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Opposite (semantics) In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is male entails that it is not female. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members in a set of opposites. The relationship between opposites is known as opposition.
The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from Greek φόβος phobos, "fear") occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder (e.g. agoraphobia), in chemistry to describe chemical aversions (e.g. hydrophobic), in biology to describe organisms that dislike certain conditions (e.g ...
Synonym. A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. [ 2] For example, in the English language, the words begin, start, commence, and initiate are all synonyms of one another: they are synonymous. The standard test for synonymy is substitution: one ...
Homonym. In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either homographs —words that have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation)—or homophones —words that have the same pronunciation (regardless of spelling)—or both. [ 1] Using this definition, the words row (propel with oars), row (a linear arrangement) and row (an argument ...
Converse (semantics) In linguistics, converses or relational antonyms are pairs of words that refer to a relationship from opposite points of view, such as parent/child or borrow/lend. [1] [2] The relationship between such words is called a converse relation. [2] Converses can be understood as a pair of words where one word implies a ...
For the second portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z. Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other region; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively. Additional usage ...
Contronym. A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings; such a word is also known as an antagonym, autoantonym, contranym, or Janus word. [ 1][ 2] For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". This feature is also called enantiosemy, [ 3][ 4] enantionymy ( enantio- means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy.
A diphthong ( / ˈdɪfθɒŋ, ˈdɪp -/ DIF-thong, DIP-; [ 1] from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos) 'two sounds', from δίς (dís) 'twice' and φθόγγος (phthóngos) 'sound'), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. [ 2] Technically, a ...