antonym

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a word that expresses a meaning opposed to the meaning of another word, in which case the two words are antonyms of each other

   To me the antonym of gay is depressed.

2. 2
   noun

   A word which has the opposite meaning of another word.

   “Rich” is an antonym of “poor”; “full” is an antonym of “empty”.

Etymology

From French antonyme (1840s and 1850s), which was modeled on earlier synonyme and influenced by the etymons of Ancient Greek ἀντωνυμία (antōnumía, “pronoun”); credit for popularization of the French loanword's naturalization into English is given principally to Charles John Smith and his 1867 book Synonyms and Antonyms: Or, Kindred Words and Their Opposites. Collected and Contrasted. By surface analysis, ant- + -onym.