In traditional terminology, antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning. This definition will be examined in Section 6.5. Here we will look at different types of opposition.

　 Gradable antonyms are pairs of words opposite to each other, but the positive of one word does not necessarily imply the negative of the other, or vice versa. A person who is not rich is not necessarily poor. The two words represent two polarities between which there is continuum. This relation is found between many adjective and adverb pairs. They have three characteristics. Firstly, they can be used in comparative or superlative degrees (faster, fastest; slower, slowest). Secondly, they can be modified by adverbs of degree, very, fairly, quite, rather, etc. Thirdly, they can follow how in questions (How large is the room? How long is the river?). In raising such questions the basic one of the two is preferred. Otherwise, there is presupposition in the question. For instance, “How short is the man?” presupposes the man is below the average in height.

　 Complementary antonyms are words opposite to each other and the positive of one implies the negative of the other. Dead/alive, male/female, pass/fail, etc. are complementary antonyms. An animal may be neither big nor small, but it cannot be neither dead nor alive. Adjectives and adverbs which are complementarily opposite to each other cannot be used in comparative or superlative degrees, nor modified by adverbs of degree. In addition, they cannot appear in questions beginning with how.

　 Reversal antonyms are words that denote the same relation or process from one or the other direction. Push/pull, come/go, ascend/descend, buy/sell, up/down in/out, employer/employee, husband/wife, are all reversal antonyms. If you see push on the door when you enter a room, then you will expect to see pull, going out of the room through the same door. If John is on the right of Jane, Jane must be on the left of John. These examples show that reversal antonyms describe a relation between two entities from alternate directions or view points.

　 Antonymy is frequently utilized as a rhetorical resource in language use. Oxymoron, a rhetorical device, is based on antonymy. He was received with cold warmth there contains an oxymoron. Antithesis, another rhetorical device, is also based on antonymy. The English expression the rise and the fall of the empire is an example. Gradable antonyms may give rise of fuzziness. The phrases a young statesman and an old king are both fuzzy in meaning.