antithesis

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an·tith·e·sis

(ăn-tĭth′ĭ-sĭs)

n. pl. an·tith·e·ses (-sēz′)

1. Direct contrast; opposition.

2. The direct or exact opposite: Hope is the antithesis of despair.

a. A figure of speech in which sharply contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in a balanced or parallel phrase or grammatical structure, as in "Hee for God only, shee for God in him" (John Milton).

b. The second and contrasting part of such a juxtaposition.

4. The second stage of the Hegelian dialectic process, representing the opposite of the thesis.

[Late Latin, from Greek, from antitithenai, antithe-, to oppose : anti-, anti- + tithenai, to set; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

antithesis

(ænˈtɪθɪsɪs)

n, pl -ses (-ˌsiːz)

1. the exact opposite

2. contrast or opposition

3. (Rhetoric) rhetoric the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, phrases, or words so as to produce an effect of balance, such as my words fly up, my thoughts remain below

4. (Philosophy) philosophy the second stage in the Hegelian dialectic contradicting the thesis before resolution by the synthesis

[C15: via Latin from Greek: a setting against, from anti- + tithenai to place]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

an•tith•e•sis

(ænˈtɪθ ə sɪs)

n., pl. -ses (-ˌsiz)

1. opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.

2. the direct opposite: Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly.

a. the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”

b. the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as “or give me death.”

4. See Hegelian dialectic.

[1520–30; < Latin < Greek: opposition =anti(ti)thé(nai) to oppose + -sis -sis. See anti-, thesis]

antithesis

1. The balancing and contrasting of two words, phrases, or ideas by placing them side by side.

2. Placing ideas together to stress a contrast.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	antithesis - exact opposite; "his theory is the antithesis of mine" oppositeness, opposition - the relation between opposed entities
	2.	antithesis - the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas to give a feeling of balance rhetorical device - a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance)

antithesis

noun

1. opposite, contrast, reverse, contrary, converse, inverse, antipode They are the antithesis of the typical married couple.

2. contrast, opposition, contradiction, reversal, inversion, contrariety, contraposition the antithesis between instinct and reason

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

antithesis

noun

1. The condition of being in conflict:

antagonism, contradiction, contradistinction, contraposition, contrariety, contrariness, opposition, polarity.

2. That which is diametrically opposed to another:

antipode, antipodes, antonym, contrary, converse, counter, opposite, reverse.

Logic: contradictory, contrapositive.

Translations

Antithese Gegensatz

antiteesivastakohta

antithèseantíthèse

antiteza

antiteza

antithesis

[ænˈtɪθɪsɪs] N (antitheses (pl)) [ænˈtɪθɪsiːz] → antítesis f inv

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

antithesis

[ænˈtɪθəsɪs] [antitheses] [ænˈtɪθəsiːz] (pl) n → antithèse f
the antithesis of → l'antithèse de

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

antithesis

n pl <antitheses> (= direct opposite) → genaues Gegenteil (→ to, of +gen); (of idea, in rhetoric) → Antithese f → (to, of zu) (form); (= contrast) → Gegensatz m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

antithesis

[ænˈtɪθɪsɪs] n (antitheses (pl)) [ænˈtɪθɪsiːz] → antitesi f inv; (contrast) → carattere m antitetico

References in classic literature ?

And I am the more persuaded of that suspicion, if one can call it so, by the fact that if you take, for instance, the antithesis of the normal man, that is, the man of acute consciousness, who has come, of course, not out of the lap of nature but out of a retort (this is almost mysticism, gentlemen, but I suspect this, too), this retort-made man is sometimes so nonplussed in the presence of his antithesis that with all his exaggerated consciousness he genuinely thinks of himself as a mouse and not a man.

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There is the same type of antithesis in both cases; for just as blindness is opposed to sight, so is being blind opposed to having sight.

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Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express it, greater antithesis of character, than the native warrior of North America.

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John Barleycorn sends his White Logic, the argent messenger of truth beyond truth, the antithesis of life, cruel and bleak as interstellar space, pulseless and frozen as absolute zero, dazzling with the frost of irrefragable logic and unforgettable fact.

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In vivid contrast to the sad and terrible destiny of the king imprisoned in the Bastile, and tearing, in sheer despair, the bolts and bars of his dungeon, the rhetoric of the chroniclers of old would not fail to present, as a complete antithesis, the picture of Philippe lying asleep beneath the royal canopy.

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Now and then the gay laughter of a woman or the chatter of children could be heard, for the red Martians are a social, pleasure-loving people--in direct antithesis to the cold and morbid race of green men.

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It was in some hundreds of verses, which I did my best to balance as Pope did, with a caesura falling in the middle of the line, and a neat antithesis at the end.

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But we must hasten to add that his voice produced what might be called an antithesis to his blond delicacy.

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de Saint-Meran's;" and he arranged mentally, while Dantes awaited further questions, the antithesis by which orators often create a reputation for eloquence.

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Yet upon the black also--the antithesis of the red--no experienced gambler would stake anything, for the reason that every practised player knows the meaning of "capricious fortune." That is to say, after the sixteenth (or so) success of the red, one would think that the seventeenth coup would inevitably fall upon the black; wherefore, novices would be apt to back the latter in the seventeenth round, and even to double or treble their stakes upon it--only, in the end, to lose.

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Lord John Roxton has some points in common with Professor Summerlee, and others in which they are the very antithesis to each other.

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On the contrary, he was the representative of a much more common type which is the antithesis of the conventional sailor.