Word Meaningmeasuring; for instance, a small pumpkin is very likely to be much larger
than a big pea.
Non-gradable antonyms cannot be modified, often because they denote
absolute differences; e.g., metabolic is non-gradable: it does not accept the
comparative or the superlative or modification by degree adverb or intensifi-
er ( more metabolic, most metabolic, excessively metabolic, very metabolic).
Other non-gradables include absolute, sonic, utter.
Reversive antonyms are words that represent movement in opposite di-
rections, such as advance-retreat, go (away)-come (back), ascend-descend, rise-
fall, go-return, fill-empty, open-close.
Conversive antonyms represent the same situation from two points of
view. For example, if the cat is higher than the bird, then the bird is lower
than the cat. The vertical relationship between the bird and the cat can be
viewed from two points of view: lower than and higher than. Another ex-
ample is wife-husband: if Tarzan is Jane’s husband, then Jane is Tarzan’s wife.
Other examples include buy-sell, give-receive, own-belong to, above-below.
While synonyms and antonyms are words at the same semantic level,
word meanings may also be hierarchically related to each other. For ex-
ample, a mallard is a kind of duck which is a kind of bird. We can represent
this relation as a tree:
Bird
Duck
Mallard
The meaning “bird” is included in the meaning “duck,” which in turn is
included in the meaning “mallard.” Or from the bottom up: the meaning
“mallard” includes the meaning “duck,” which includes the meaning “bird.”
This relationship is called hyponymy. The lower terms are the hyponyms of
the higher terms, which are the superordinates or hypernyms of the lower
terms. Similarly, the meaning of rose includes the meaning of flower. Con-
sequently, if something is a rose then it must also be a flower. Conversely,
the set of things we call roses is included in the set of things we call flowers.
A superordinate term may have many subordinate terms, called co-hyp-
onyms or coordinates: