Glossary:Ancillary Antonymy

Ancillary antonymy

A subgroup of antonymy that accounts for 40-50% of antonym occurences and therefore represents the largest group among the six different sorts.

Pronounciation

/ænˈsɪləri ˈæntənɪmi/

General definition

Ancillary antonymy is used when the contrast of a more established antonym pair is used to generate or reinforce the contrast of a second, parallel pair of opposites. This type is normally used when the second word pair is usally not perceived as antonyms.

Example

Communism may be dead, but fascism is most actually alive. It is meeting public need, not private greed.

In these examples, the reinforcing pair is marked in bold whereas the affirmed pair is in italics.