ABSTRACT
The title of this chapter is borrowed from an expression used by Cruse (1986: 197) when describing what makes antonymy special. Though often grouped together with synonymy, hyponymy and meronymy, the scope of antonymy is much greater than that of its fellow sense relations. For proof of this, talk to my four-year-old nephew, Thomas. He understands the concept of ‘opposites’ and excitedly tells me all about pairs such as big/little, boy/girl and happy/sad. Together with other childhood learning exercises (such as counting, reciting nursery rhymes and distinguishing between colours), recognising antonyms seems to be a natural stage in an infant’s linguistic development. This is not something which could be said of other sense relations. Furthermore, our exposure to antonyms is not restricted to childhood; we are surrounded by ‘opposites’ throughout our adult life and encounter them on a daily basis.1
