What are gradable and complementary antonyms?
Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold). Complementary antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite but whose meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum (push, pull).
Graded (or gradable) antonyms are those words that fall on the opposite sides of a spectrum when referring to a specific quality. For example, hot and cold have to do with temperature and are opposites. Other gradable antonyms include: small — big (size) near — far (distance) light — heavy (weight)
Gradable : I think it's hotter today than yesterday but not ... Ungradable : *I think it's more boiling today than yesterday.
Complementary antonyms: Also known as direct antonyms or contradictory antonyms, complementary antonyms are related words that are absolute opposites. They exist independently from one another and do not need the other term to exist. Examples of complementary antonyms include “night and day” and “inhale and exhale.”
Here is a list of some common gradable adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with them. angry, big, boring, cheap, cold, expensive, frightening, funny, hot, interesting, old, pretty, small, tasty, tired, etc.
Non-gradable opposites cannot be represented on a scale, a continuum. Gradable opposites can – and should be! There are often other adjectives that fall between and around the original pair.
Gradable antonyms are typically pairs of adjectives that can be qualified by adverbs such as very, quite, extremely, etc. So for example, we can say the tickets were expensive or the tickets were cheap.
/ˈɡreɪ.də.bəl/ A gradable adjective or adverb is one that can be used in the comparative or superlative, or that can be qualified by words such as 'very' or 'quite'.
Gradable adjectives describe qualities that can be measured in degrees such as age and size. Non-gradable adjectives describe qualities that are completely present or completely absent.
What are the example of gradable and non-gradable adjectives?
Non-gradable antonyms- direct opposites; complementary pairs; comparativeconstructions are not normally used; (male/female,true/false)Reversies- (pack/unpack)(dress/undress)Hyponymy- when the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another, therelationship is this.
Noun. complementary antonym (plural complementary antonyms) (semantics) A term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a complement as “an added word or expression by which a prediction is made complete (such as 'president' in “They elected him president“, and 'beautiful' in “He thought her beautiful“)”.
In contrast, we will focus here on absolute adjectives, and in particular, absolute gradable adjectives that have antonyms such as clean-dirty, healthy-sick and dead-alive.
gradable adjectives: can get stronger or weaker. ungradable adjectives: cannot get stronger or weaker and they have an absolute meaning.
softly | very softly |
---|---|
suddenly | very suddenly |
slowly | extremely slowly |
A non-gradable adjective or adverb is one that cannot be used in the comparative or superlative, or that cannot be qualified by words such as 'very' or 'quite'.
- Admire – Detest.
- Bravery – Cowardice.
- Crooked – Straight.
- Dainty – Clumsy.
- Economise – Waste.
- Artificial – Natural.
- Arrive – Depart.
- Argue – Agree.
- All – None.
- Amateur – Professional.
- Alive – Dead.
- Advanced – Elementary.
- Adult – Child.
What is the difference between gradable and converse antonyms?
Gradable antonyms are antonyms that can be physically shown to be opposites such as man/woman. Converse antonyms are known to be opposites such as black/white. Complementary antonyms are antonyms that are associated with each other as opposites such as good/bad.
Gradable antonyms are pairs of opposites with variable degrees of semantic strength. Syntactically, they can be modified by intensifiers like "very" and "too" and can be used in the comparative. Semantically, one term of an antonymic pair is opposed to the other, with a fuzzy boundary.
To teach your students the difference between gradable and nongradable adjectives, draw a line across your board and label it with a gradable adjective such as hot. Ask your students to offer different nouns that might be described as hot.
Antonyms are words with opposite meanings, like hot and cold, good and bad, and happy and sad.
Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. For example, good and bad. Synonyms are words with similar meanings. For example, tiny & small.
non-grading adverbs | non-gradable adjectives | |
---|---|---|
absolutely | awful | extreme |
utterly | excellent | |
completely | terrified | |
totally | dead | absolute |
non-complementary adjective (NOT GOOD TOGETHER)
not working usefully together: Misunderstandings often stem from an institution's non-complementary goals. Food producers and governments may have non-complementary and sometimes conflicting economic, social, and environmental objectives.
Complementation occurs when two mutations together result in a wild-type phenotype. Non-complementation occurs when two mutations together result in a mutant phenotype. The complementation test is a simple and fundamental assay in genetics used to assign a mutation to a gene.
- accompaniment.
- addition.
- aggregate.
- augmentation.
- balance.
- capacity.
- completion.
- consummation.
A Complementary good is a product or service that adds value to another. In other words, they are two goods that the consumer uses together. For example, cereal and milk, or a DVD and a DVD player. On occasion, the complementary good is absolutely necessary, as is the case with petrol and a car.
What is the simple meaning of complementary?
: mutually supplying each other's lack. … the complementary relationship that binds the two.
Two products are called complementary when each one shares a beneficial relation, for example, mobile phone and mobile cover. Both cannot exist alone, and thus each one plays a role in the value offering. Complementary good, on the other hand, has a negative cross elasticity of demand.
Graded Antonyms. Pairs of graded antonyms belong on a scale. For example, good and bad are antonyms. However, if an essay, say, is not good, that does not mean it is bad.
The antonyms of clean are dirty, nasty, disgusted, spoilt, foul, etc.
For example, "perfect" is the extreme of "good," "freezing" is the extreme of "cold," and "hilarious" is the extreme of "funny." These extreme words are known as non-gradable, and words that can be modified in degree are known as gradable.
Noun. complementary antonym (plural complementary antonyms) (semantics) A term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
Complimentary (from compliment) means admiring, approving, or flattering—or it can also mean free (like those complimentary chocolates hotels leave on your pillow). Complementary (from complement) means balancing, matching, or completing. (Remember complementary angles from high school geometry?
Complement can be used as a noun to refer to someone or something that completes, enhances, or works well with someone or something else. Examples: Complement as a noun The lighting was the perfect complement to the décor. The principal's shoes are a nice complement to his suit.
- Gradable antonyms.
- Complementary antonyms.
- Relational antonyms.
Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings. 10 examples of antonyms that young children may be learn early are hot/cold, up/down, wet/dry, big/small, on/off, front/back, near/far, lock/unlock, heavy/light, happy/sad. Learning about opposites helps your child to deepen their understanding of the world around them.