Abstract —This paper aims to study antonymy in English texts. The significance of the study is presented first, then the definition of antonymy and its classification are elaborated with examples

 hot/cold, dead/alive 
and
 lend/borrow
differ from each other in the way of oppositeness. 
The pair 
hot/cold
belongs to the gradable antonyms; the pair 
dead/alive
belongs to the complementary antonyms; and the 
pair 
lend/borrow
belongs to the relational antonyms. Second, these definitions focus more on the discrepancy of the 
antonyms but they ignore the similarity of the grammar and usage of each of the antonym pairs. Just look at another three 
pairs, 
heat/cold,
single/married
, and 
beauty/ugly
. Although either of them is opposite in meaning, they could not be 
regarded as antonyms in that they are not the same in grammatical units. Furthermore, people use the antonyms most of 
ISSN 1798-4769
Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 234-238, January 2014
© 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland.
doi:10.4304/jltr.5.1.234-238
© 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER

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the time just for the effect of contrast. For instance, the juxtaposition of 
spring
and 
winter
can constantly be found in the 
English literature, as is presented in 
Ode to the West Wind
, “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” 
Taking the above factors into consideration, Lyons classifies opposition into three categories: antonymy, 
complementarity and converseness in 
Semantics
(1977) and 
Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics
(1968). Lyons only 
regards words that are gradable and opposite in meaning as antonyms. Cruse (1986) thinks the same way in his 
Lexical 
Semantics
. So the term “antonym” only refers to the set of gradable opposites, which are mostly adjectives, for gradable 
antonyms reflect one distinguishing semantic feature: polar oppositeness. However, in our daily life, words like 
male
/
female
, 
dead
/
alive
, 
husband
/
wife
are also considered as antonym pairs, for these words are also opposite in meaning. 
Therefore, the other two categories, complementarity and converseness, are included in the field of antonymy only in a 
very broad sense.
In general, there are two criteria in defining antonymy: semantic and lexical. We explain elaborately the antonymy 
being semantic above, and yet not all semantically opposed words are antonyms. Cruse (1986) exemplifies this with the 
words 
tubby
and 
emaciated
. Almost all established antonyms have synonyms which could not constitute the antonym 
pairs, for example, the antonym pair of 
heavy
and 
light
is better than 
weighty
and 
insubstantial
; antonym pair of 
fast
and 
slow
is better opposites rather than 
speedy
and 
sluggish
; antonym pair of 
happy
and sad is more reasonable than 
ecstatic
and 
miserable
. 
Although both of the antonymy and synonymy link words together in the lexicon, Gross et al. (1988) argue that 
antonymy and synonymy are different. They say while synonymy is “a relation between lexical concepts”, antonymy is “a 
relation between words, not concepts”. Justeson and Katz (1991) also refer to antonymy as a lexical relation, “specific to 
words rather than concepts”. As a matter of fact, the definition of antonymy must be lexical as well as semantic. 
Antonyms need to have “oppositeness of meaning”, but they also need to have a strong, well-established lexical 
relationship with one another.(Jackson, 1988) 
Lexicographer Egan (1968) makes a rather satisfying definition of “antonymy” based on her understanding of the 
nature of the antonymy: “An antonym is a word so opposed in meaning to another word; it’s equal in breadth or range of 
application, that is, negates or nullifies every single one of its implications”. This definition shows clearly what makes two 
words be antonyms. The antonym pairs are equal in breadth or range of application but opposed in meaning. And the 
words which contrast in meaning may not be antonyms because they may be different in their breadth or range of 
application. Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that Egan’s definition of antonymy may be fitter or easier to be 
employed into the actual cases than the theories and definitions of antonymy that have been referred to above.