Simple Antonyms

Innocent/guilty

The man is deemed innocent

The man is deemed guilty 

When these words are used in sentences, the sentences turn to be contradictory (one sentence must be true and the other must be false). There is also no middle ground, meaning the referent has to be either one or the other, it can’t be both, and it can’t be neither. Therefore, innocent/guilty are simple antonyms.

Gradable Antonyms

Friendly/unfriendly

Sam is friendly 

Sam is unfriendly 

Typically belong to the same semantic domain but name opposite ends of the scale. These sentences are contrary, meaning they both can’t be true but both may be false or one may be true and the other is false. Sam can either be friendly or unfriendly, or neither. This reflects that friendly/unfriendly are gradable antonyms.

Reverse Pairs

Forward/backward

Go forward 2 spaces

Go backward 2 spaces

These are words that denote motion or change direction. In these sentences “forward” and ‘backward” demonstrate that they are in fact reverse pairs.

Converse Pairs

Teacher/student

James is my teacher

I am James’ student

Converse pairs represent an asymmetric relation between two entities. They have relation but their arguments are reversed.

Taxonomic Sisters

Flamingo/Peacock

Flamingo and peacock are taxonomic sisters.  They are hyponyms (“when two words stand in a generic-specific relationship we refer to the more specific term as the hyponym and the more generic term as the hypernym) of birds. When we say “An X is a kind of Y” there is a taxonomic relationship between X and Y. Therefore, flamingo and peacock are taxonomic sisters.