antithesis

an·tith·e·sis

noun \an-ˈti-thə-səs\

plural an·tith·e·ses \-ˌsēz\

Definition of ANTITHESIS

1

a (1) : the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (as in “action, not words” or “they promised freedom and provided slavery”) (2) : opposition, contrast <the antithesis of prose and verse>

b (1) : the second of two opposing words, clauses, or sentences that are being rhetorically contrasted (2) : the direct opposite <her temperament is the very antithesis of mine>

2

: the second stage of a dialectic process

Examples of ANTITHESIS

1. <true love for another is the antithesis of the desire to control that person's life>
2. In urban areas, middle schools often became the antithesis of what reformers had intended. Instead of warm incubators of independence and judgment, they became impersonal, oppressive institutions. —Claudia Wallis, Time, 8 Aug. 2005
3. Yet the newest residential rage in Dallas is the antithesis of the traditional neighborhood: the gated community. Depending on your income and level of anxiety, these private enclaves may contain golf courses, health clubs and equestrian centers … —Paul McFedries, Word Spy, 2004
4. Cato, who dosed his family on cabbage soup, derided Greek physicians as the antithesis of Roman virtue: they were frauds who cheated patients and ‘have sworn to kill all barbarians with their drugs’. —Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, 1997

Origin of ANTITHESIS

Late Latin, from Greek, literally, opposition, from antitithenai to oppose, from anti- + tithenai to set — more at do

First Known Use: 1529

Related to ANTITHESIS

Synonyms

antipode, opposite, contrary, counter, negative, obverse, reverse

Related Words

negation; antonym; counterpoint; converse, inverse, mirror image

Near Antonyms

synonym; analogue (or analog), counterpart; carbon copy, copy, duplicate, replica

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile