Contrary antonym; complementary antonym; converse antonym

Main characteristics of complementary and converse antonyms

The large majority of the relations of oppositeness of meaning which speech act verbs enter into show some but not all characteristics of gradable antonymy and/or complementarity. Complementarity is traditionally defined as follows Complementarity: Definition Two lexical items L(a) and L(b) lexicalising concepts a and b respectively are in a relation of complementarity if they exhaustively divide a domain into two mutually exclusive parts⁵. 1.Complementary antonyms are pairs of words that are opposite in meaning, cannot be graded and are mutually exclusive. That is, they can exist independently of each other. For example, there might be a daughter in a family but not the complementary opposite of a son, as girls can exist without their complementary opposite of boys. Further examples of complementary antonyms include:

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  push/pull
  
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  right/wrong
  
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  yes/no
  
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  exit/entrance
  
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  treat/punishment
  
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  silence/noise
  
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  lift/drop
  

Complementary antonyms are a kind of antonymy that explains an either-or relationship between the opposite word pairs. Remember when you have to answer true or false questions on tests? This is an example of a complementary antonym. There are only two options, either true or false. There is no half-true or half-false. Because of this, each complementary antonym can exist independently of the other and is usually its absolute opposite. Other examples are dead/alive, exterior/interior, and yes/no. The fact that complementaries bisect a conceptual domain is reflected by the entailment relations holding between utterances containing them: x is a entails and is entailed by x is not b, and x is not a entails and is entailed by x is b. For example, if the door is open, it cannot at the same time be shut, and if it is not open, it must be shut. This means that, when L(a) and L(b) are complementaries, (i) x is a and x is b cannot both be true (’the door is open and shut), and hence it is not possible that a and b are both the case; (ii) x is a and x is b cannot both be false. The door is neither open nor shut), and hence it is not possible that neither a nor b is the case⁶.