Topic 34

Topic 34                           Antonyms                                             

An antonym is a word opposite in meaning to another word.

Nouns in Antonyms.

1.  bravery        cowardice              2.  coward            hero

3.  depth           height                   4.  dwarf              giant

5.  enemy          friend                   6.  evening           morning

7.  everybody     nobody                 8.  exit                 entrance

9.  success         failure                 10.  hell                 heaven

11.  joy              sorrow                12.  junior              senior

13.  knowledge   ignorance            14.  life                  death

15.  liquid           solid                   16.  loss                 gain

17.  man             woman               18.  master            servant

19.  miser           spendthrift          20.  motorist          pedestrian

21.  north           south                  22.  peace             war

23.  public           private***          24.  question          answer**

25.  summer        winter                26.  top                 bottom

27.  truth             lie                     28.  victory             defeat

29.  child             adult                  30.  back                front    

31.  danger          safety                32.  dawn                dusk

33.  day               night                 34.  east                  west

35.  head             tail                    36.  hill / mountain    valley

37.  noise            silence               38.  order                 chaos

39.  this               that***             40.  these               those***            

**It also functions as a verb.

***It also functions as an adjective.

Verbs in Antonyms

1.  accept            refuse                 2.  add                  subtract

3.  admit             deny                   4.  begin                end

5.  bless              curse                  6.  buy                   sell

7.  capture           release               8.  catch                 throw

9.  come              go                    10.  contract             expand

11.  cry                laugh                12.  die                    live

13.  divide           multiply              14.  ebb                   flow

15.  enjoy            dislike                16.  find                   lose

17.  finish            start                   18.  forget               remember

19.  give              take                   20.  help                  hinder

21.  hide              show                  22.  increase            decrease* 

23.  lead              follow                 24.  lend                  borrow     (126)  

25.  love               hate                   26.  obey                command

27.  open             close / shut          28.  pardon             punish

29.  praise            blame                 30.  purchase           sell

31.  rise                fall                     32.  separate           join

33.  smile             frown                  34.  talk                  listen

35.  teach             learn                   36.  win                  lose

37.  work              rest                     38.  stay                 leave

*It also functions as a noun.

Adjectives in Antonyms

1.  absent           present                   2.  active              passive

3.  alive              dead                       4.  asleep             awake

5.  bad               good                       6.  barren             fertile

7.  beautiful        ugly                        8.  bent                straight

9.  better            worse                    10.  big                  small

11.  white           black                     12.  blunt               sharp

13.  bold             timid                     14.  bright              dull

15.  broad           narrow                  16.  busy                idle

17.  cheap           dear                      18.  clean               dirty

19.  clever           foolish                   20.  cloudy              clear

21.  coarse          fine                       22.  cold                  hot

23.  common       rare                       24.  cool                  warm

25.  daily             nightly                   26.  dark                 bright

27.  deep             shallow                  28.  difficult             easy

29.  drunk            sober                    30.  dry                   wet

31.  early             late#                     32.  empty              full

33.  fair                dark                     34.  far                   near

35.  fat                thin                       36.  few                 many

37.  first               last*                     38.  foolish             wise

39.  foreign           local                     40.  found               lost

41.  fresh              stale                     42.  future              past*

43.  generous        selfish                   44.  guilty               innocent

45.  happy             sad                       46.  hard                soft

47.  heavy             light                      48.  high                 low

49.  humble           proud                    50.  inner                outer

51.  inside              outside@                 52.  interesting        dull

53.  junior              senior                    54.  kind                 cruel   

55.  lazy                 hardworking           56.  least               greatest (127)  

57.  level               steep                     58.  long               short

59.  loud                soft                       60.  modern          ancient

61.  masculine        feminine                62.  natural           artificial                   

63.  noisy               quiet                     64.  old                 new

65.  plural               singular                66.  polite              rude

67.  poor                 rich                     68.  powerful          weak

69.  quick               slow                     70.  raw                 cooked

71.  real                 imaginary              72.  right                left

73.  rough              smooth                 74.  safe                 dangerous

75.  same               different               76.  straight            crooked

77.  strong             weak                     78.  sweet              sour

79.  tall                  short                     80.  tame               wild

81.  thick                thin                       82.  tight               loose

83.  tiny                  huge                     84.  true                false

85.  vacant              occupied                86.  wide               narrow

87.  wrong              right                       88.  young             old

*It also functions as a noun.

#It also functions as an adverb.

@  It also functions as a preposition.

Adverbs in Antonyms

1.  abroad             home                      2.  backwards         forwards

3.  ever                 never                      4.  here                  there

5.  in                     out                         6.  never                 always

7.  often                seldom                    8.  up                     down

Prepositions in Antonyms

1.  above              below                      2.  before                after

3.  under               over                        4.  within / with       without

To form Antonyms, we can also use a prefix like ‘dis / im / in / mis / un’ to the words and also change ‘ful  ---   less’.

Prefix ‘dis’

1.  agree        disagree                   2.  allow              disallow

3.  appear      disappear                  4.  arm                disarm

5.  arrange     disarrange                 6.  believe            disbelieve

7.  connect     disconnect                 8.  continue          discontinue

9.  honest       dishonest                10.  like                 dislike         

11.  loyal          disloyal                   12.  obey               disobey   (128)

13.  order         disorder                  14.  trust               distrust

Prefix ‘im’

1.  movable     immovable                2.  mobile             immobile

3.  patient       impatient                  4.  perfect             imperfect

5.  polite         impolite                    6.  possible            impossible

Prefix ‘in’

1.  accurate     inaccurate                 2.  attentive          inattentive

3.  correct       incorrect                   4.  appropriate       inappropriate

Prefix ‘mis’

1.  behave       misbehave              2.  conduct            misconduct

3.  judge          misjudge                4.  use                  misuse

Prefix ‘un’

1.  able               unable                     2.  certain             uncertain

3.  comfortable    uncomfortable          4.  conscious          unconscious

5.  dress              undress                   6.  equal                unequal

7.  fair                 unfair                      8.  fold                  unfold

9.  friendly           unfriendly               10.  happy              unhappy

11.  healthy          unhealthy               12.  just                 unjust

13.  kind              unkind                    14.  known             unknown

15.  like               unlike                      16.  lock                unlock

17.  necessary      unnecessary             18.  popular          unpopular

19.  safe              unsafe                      20.  screw             unscrew

21.  seen              unseen                    22.  selfish             unselfish

23.  steady           unsteady                  24.  suitable          unsuitable

25.  tidy               untidy                      26.  tie                   untie

27.  true              untrue                      28.  willing             unwilling

29.  wise              unwise                    

Change ‘ful’  ---     ‘less’

1.  careful             careless                     2.  harmful            harmless

3.  helpful             helpless                     4.  hopeful            hopeless

5.  painful             painless                     6.  pitiful                 pitiless

7.  powerful          powerless                   8.  shameful      shameless

9.  useful              useless                                                            (129)

 Topic 34                           Antonyms                                            

Exercise 199

Match the words with the opposite meaning in the sentences.

     pedestrian      spendthrift         silence     dusk  height                   
     ignorance          private               senior           hero          defeat

1.  John is my junior by three years.  (                    )

2.  The man was a coward.  (                   )

3.  She took the victory at ease.  (                     )

4.  Meena decided to meet him in public.  (                      )

5.  The knowledge of avian flu causes so much fear.  (                      )

6.  The noise makes life unbearable.   (                   )

7.  This lane is for the motorist.        (                     )

8.  Nora’s grandfather was a miser.  (                      )

9.  Many people know the depth of the cave.  (                        )

10.  They set off the journey at dawn.  (                       )

Exercise 200

Match the words with the opposite meaning in the sentences.

   released  expand     subtract   multiple
   refused       blamed            frowned           pardoned              
   passive           timid

1.  The man accepted the conditions of work without protest.  (             )

2.  Paul was so bold to give his opinions.  (                    )

3.  George was very active in his search for a job.  (                         )

4.  Miss Lu smiled helplessly at the mess.  (                     )

5.  These shirts contract in water.  (                    )

6.  Ali has captured a tortoise. (                   )

7.  The master punished his servant for the mistake.  (                       )

8.  We all praised him for the act.  (                         )

9.  He can divide the sums easily.  (                        )

10.  She knows how to add the sums very well.  (                        )

Exercise 201

Match the words with the opposite meaning in the sentences.

     wise           shallow           sober            stale      fertile      
     innocent    straight       foreign           stingy           proud        

1.  The stick is crooked.  (                      )

2.  This loaf of bread is fresh.  (                    )

3.  The land is so barren for agriculture.  (                      )

4.  Toha was very generous and humble.  (                    ) (                 )

5.  The river is very deep.  (                     )

6.  The employer prefers local workers.  (                       )

7.  The man was guilty of robbery.  (                       )

8.  The old man is foolish and drunk.  (                 )  (               ) (130)

Exercise 202                                                                                

Match the words with the opposite meaning in the sentences.

     feminine          imaginary          vacant          artificial         level        rude  tiny      wild             narrow           smooth

1.  Those animals are tame.  (                         )

2.  The lane is very wide.  (                          )

3.  The fish is huge.  (                        )

4.  The surface of the floor is rough.  (                         )

5.  The seat is occupied.  (                         )

6.  The slope is steep.  (                             )

7.  The little boy is very polite.  (                            )

8.  The story ‘Peter Pan’ is not real.  (                          )

9.  These are natural flowers.  (                          )

10.  She has the masculine features. (                           )

Exercise 203

Match the words with the opposite meaning in the sentences.

     powerful     in chaos     liquid     sorrow    blunt     cloudy         
     admitted    cursed            industrious         separate     

1.  The old lady blessed us readily.       (                      )

2.  The family was full of joy a few days ago.  (                     )

3.  The water in the river was very clear yesterday.  (                    )

4.  The man is weak in his resource management.  (                      )

5.  They have to join the desks.  (                       )

6.  These old swords and knives are sharp.     (                         )

7.  The place was in order yesterday.  (                          )

8.  She denied her mistakes all the time.  (                         )

9.  It has a solid form.   (                          )

10.  The man is very lazy.  (                       )

Exercise 204

Prefix the words with ‘dis / im / in / mis /un’ to form the opposite meaning.

1.  She is able to do all the housework alone.  (                    )

2.  She placed her luggage there.  (                     )

3.  Biki was kind to his dog last week.  (                      )

4.  Yalee behaved herself  last Tuesday.  (                          )

5.  Nordia’s parents allow her to go out at night.  (                  )

6.  The record of the experiment is accurate.  (                      )

7.  Doris was very patient with the rowdy neighbour.  (                     )

8.  She liked the taste of the food so much.  (                        )

9.  Tina is very attentive in class every day.  (                      )

10.  The guide was very polite to the tourists.  (                     )   (131)