Opposite Dictionary

Author: Xu Ancheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: This dictionary includes nearly three thousand words and organizes them into over one thousand pairs of antonyms. It primarily focuses on disyllabic and polysyllabic words. The example sentences are mostly selected from famous literary works and various teaching materials, with a few from newspapers and magazines across the country. Antonyms have existed since ancient times, and rhetorical devices such as parallelism and contrastive writing have further enhanced their application. Some words have antonyms with relative meanings, while others have opposite meanings. Due to grammatical and other special phenomena, some words form antonyms with several other words in different contexts, aspects, or meanings. Therefore, in the arrangement of entries, we follow the following principles: If a word has multiple antonyms, we group them together. For example, "confused" has both "clear" and "understood" as antonyms, and there are no significant changes in meaning or part of speech, so they are listed under the same entry. Some words form antonyms with several other words, but the ways, content, and perspectives of their formation differ: some are relative, some are opposite, some involve extended meanings, or have different emotional tones. To explain them clearly, we arrange these words into separate entries. For instance, "sending charcoal in snow" and "adding flowers on brocade" have long been regarded as antonyms, but their meanings are not opposite; they are merely a corresponding pair of antonyms. On the other hand, "sending charcoal in snow" and "sending an umbrella after rain" form a pair of antonyms with opposite meanings. Additionally, "sending charcoal in snow" and "taking advantage of others' misfortune" are somewhat antonyms to some extent, and their emotional tones are also strikingly matched. Therefore, they must be arranged into separate groups. This dictionary also differs from other antonym dictionaries in the following ways:
1. The definitions not only explain clearly and are easy to understand but also provide explanations on grammatical differences, scope, size, weight, etc.
2. To improve readers' application skills, we have selected and compiled some example sentences. Most of these sentences are from teaching materials, while a few are from the writings of teenagers, with the purpose of demonstrating their practical usage to a wide range of readers.