Antonyms for Building Vocabulary

Antonyms for Building Vocabulary

The word antonym itself takes the Greek word anti, meaning "opposite," and adds it to -onym, which comes from the Greek onoma, or "name." So antonym literally means "opposite-name." Hence,  a word that has the exact opposite meaning of another word is its antonym. Most antonyms can be formed by simply adding prefixes such as im, in, dis, un.

Here is a list of antonyms for your better understanding.

A

• Absent - present
• Abundant - scarce
• Accept - decline, refuse
• Accurate - inaccurate
• Admit - deny
• Advantage - disadvantage
• Against - for
• Agree - disagree
• Alive - dead
• All - none, nothing
• Ally - enemy
• Always - never
• Ancient - modern
• Answer - question
• Antonym - synonym
• Apart - together
• Appear - disappear, vanish
• Approve - disapprove
• Arrive - depart
• Artificial - natural
• Ascend - descend
• Attic - cellar
• Attractive - repulsive
• Awake - asleep

B

• Backward - forward
• Bad - good
• Beautiful - ugly
• Before - after
• Begin - end
• Below - above
• Bent - straight
• Best - worst
• Better - worse, worst
• Big - little, small
• Bitter - sweet
• Black - white
• Blame - praise
• Bless - curse
• Bold - meek, timid
• Borrow - lend
• Bottom - top
• Bound - unbound, free
• Boundless - limited
• Boy - girl
• Brave - cowardly
• Bright - dim, dull
• Brighten - fade
• Broad - narrow
• Build - destroy

C

• Calm - windy, troubled
• Can - cannot, can't
• Capable - incapable
• Captive - free
• Careful - careless
• Cheap - expensive
• Cheerful - sad, discouraged, dreary
• Clear - cloudy, opaque
• Clever - stupid
• Clockwise - counter clockwise
• Close - far, distant
• Closed - ajar, open
• Clumsy - graceful
• Cold - hot
• Combine - separate
• Come - go
• Comfort - discomfort
• Common - rare
• Compulsory - voluntary
• Conceal - reveal
• Contract - expand
• Cool - warm
• Correct - incorrect, wrong
• Courage - cowardice
• Courteous - discourteous, rude
• Create - destroy
• Crooked - straight
• Cruel - kind

D

• Dangerous - safe
• Dark - light
• Day - night
• Daytime - night-time
• Dead - alive
• Decline - accept, increase
• Decrease - increase
• Deep - shallow
• Definite - indefinite
• Demand - supply
• Despair - hope
• Dim - bright
• Disappear - appear
• Discourage - encourage
• Diseased - healthy
• Down - up
• Downwards - upwards
• Dreary - cheerful
• Dry - moist, wet
• Dull - bright, shiny
• Dusk - dawn

E

• Early - late
• East - west
• Easy - hard, difficult
• Empty - full
• Encourage - discourage
• End - begin, start
• Enter - exit
• Even - odd
• Expand - contract
• Export - import
• Exterior - interior
• External - internal

F

• Fade - brighten
• Fail - succeed
• False - true
• Famous - unknown
• Far - near
• Fast - slow
• Fat - thin
• Feeble - strong, powerful
• Few - many
• Find - lose
• First - last
• Float - sink
• Fold - unfold
• Foolish - wise
• For - against
• Fore - aft
• Forget - remember
• Fortunate - unfortunate
• Found - lost
• Free - bound, captive
• Frequent - seldom
• Fresh - stale
• Friend - enemy
• Full - empty

G

• Generous - stingy
• Gentle - rough
• Get - give
• Giant - tiny, small, dwarf
• Girl - boy
• Give - receive, take
• Glad - sad, sorry
• Gloomy - cheerful
• Go - stop
• Good - bad, evil
• Grant - refuse
• Great - tiny, small, unimportant
• Grow - shrink
• Guest - host
• Guilty - innocent

H

• Happy - sad
• Hard - easy
• Hard - soft
• Harmful - harmless
• Harsh - mild
• Hate - love
• Haves - have-nots
• Healthy - diseased, ill, sick
• Heaven - hell
• Heavy - light
• Help - hinder
• Here - there
• Hero - coward
• High - low
• Hill - valley
• Hinder - help
• Honest - dishonest
• Horizontal - vertical
• Hot - cold
• Humble - proud

I

• ill - healthy, well
• immense - tiny, small
• important - trivial
• in - out
• include - exclude
• increase - decrease
• inferior - superior
• inhale - exhale
• inner - outer
• inside - outside
• intelligent - stupid, unintelligent
• intentional - accidental
• interesting - boring
• interesting - dull, uninteresting
• interior - exterior
• internal - external

J

• join - separate
• junior - senior
• just - unjust
• justice - injustice

K

• knowledge - ignorance
• known – unknown

L

• landlord - tenant
• large - small
• last - first
• laugh - cry
• lawful - unlawful, illegal
• lazy - industrious
• leader - follower
• left - right
• lend -borrow
• lengthen - shorten
• lenient - strict
• less - more
• light - dark, heavy
• like - dislike, hate
• likely - unlikely
• limited - boundless
• little - big
• long - short
• loose - tight
• lose - find
• loss - win
• loud - quiet
• love - hate
• low - high
• loyal - disloyal

M

• mad - happy, sane
• major - minor
• many - few
• mature - immature
• maximum - minimum
• melt - freeze
• merry - sad
• messy - neat
• minor - major
• minority - majority
• miser - spendthrift
• misunderstand - understand
• more - less

N

• nadir - zenith
• narrow - wide
• near - far, distant
• neat - messy, untidy
• never - always
• new - old
• night - day
• nighttime - daytime
• no - yes
• noisy - quiet
• none - some
• north - south

O

• obedient - disobedient
• odd - even
• offer - refuse
• old - new
• old - young
• on - off
• open - closed, shut
• opposite- same, similar
• optimist - pessimist
• out - in
• outer - inner
• over - under

P

• past - present
• patient - impatient
• peace - war
• permanent - temporary
• plentiful - scarce
• plural - singular
• poetry - prose
• polite - rude, impolite
• possible - impossible
• poverty - wealth, riches
• powerful - weak
• pretty - ugly
• private - public
• prudent - imprudent
• pure - impure, contaminated
• push - pull
•  
• Q
• qualified - unqualified
• question - answer
• quiet - loud, noisy

R

• raise - lower
• rapid - slow
• rare - common
• real - fake
• regular - irregular
• rich - poor
• right - left, wrong
• right-side-up - upside-down
• rough - smooth
• rude - courteous

S

• safe - unsafe
• same - opposite
• satisfactory - unsatisfactory
• scatter - collect
• second-hand - new
• secure - insecure
• separate - join, together
• serious - trivial
• shallow - deep
• shrink - grow
• sick - healthy, ill
• simple - complex, hard
• singular - plural
• sink - float
• slim - fat, thick
• slow - fast
• sober - drunk
• soft - hard
• some - none
• sorrow - joy
• sour - sweet
• sow -reap
• start - finish
• stop - go
• straight - crooked
• strict - lenient
• strong - weak
• success - failure
• sunny - cloudy
• sweet - sour
• synonym - antonym

T

• take - give
• tall - short
• tame - wild
• them - us
• there - here
• thick - thin
• tight - loose, slack
• tiny - big, huge
• together - apart
• top - bottom
• tough - easy, tender
• transparent - opaque
• true - false
• truth - falsehood, lie, untruth

U

• under - over
• unfold - fold
• unknown - known
• unqualified - qualified
• unsafe - safe
• up - down
• upside-down - right-side-up
• upstairs - downstairs
• us - them
• useful - useless

V

• vacant - occupied
• vanish - appear
• vast - tiny
• victory - defeat
• virtue - vice
• visible - invisible
• voluntary - compulsory

W

• war - peace
• wax - wane
• weak - strong
• wet - dry
• white - black
• wide - narrow
• win - lose
• wisdom - folly, stupidity
• within - outside
• wrong - right

Y

• yes - no
• yin - yang
• young - old
• zenith - nadir
• zip - unzip