How to Use Antonyms

By eHow Education Editor

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Instructions

Step 1:
Turn to your thesaurus for antonym ideas. A thesaurus lists a word's antonyms and synonyms, but it often includes words that express a whole range of meanings. However, a thesaurus is a good place to start when you want to use antonyms.
Step 2:
Choose true opposites when you use antonyms. For example, if you want to use an antonym for "beautiful," you wouldn't want to choose the word "plain" since this word simply means the absence of beauty. Instead, you would need to use a word like "ugly" for the antonym, which expresses that the object has a quality that's the opposite of beauty.
Step 3:
Understand that some words have more than one antonym, and the antonyms may focus on different meanings of the word. If you read the word "light" as relating to weight, an antonym is "heavy." If you read the word "light" as relating to brightness, an antonym is "dark."
Step 4:
Realize that not all words have clear antonyms, and any antonym you create for them is subjective. Someone might, for example, see the antonym for "cat" as "dog," since people often think of these companions as opposites. However, another person might see the antonym for "cat" as "tiger" if they're thinking in terms of size. If you need to rely on your subjective opinion, you're probably not using an antonym.

Tips & Warnings

If you're not sure if the exact shade of meaning, look up the original word or potential antonym in a dictionary.

Resources

Test your antonym knowledge at Sadlier-Oxford.

How to Use Antonyms Provided by eHow.com

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