gradable antonym

English

Noun

gradable antonym (plural gradable antonyms)

  1. (linguistics, philosophy, semantics) One of a pair of terms that denotes one end of a scale while the other term denotes the other end, such as long and short.
    • 2000, Howard Jackson and Etienne Zé Amvela, Words, Meaning and Vocabulary‎, page 99:
      Three types are commonly identified: gradable antonyms, contradictory or complementary antonyms, and converses. [...] Gradable antonyms include pairs like the following: ¶ beautiful ugly ¶ expensive cheap ¶ fast slow

Synonyms

See also
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