Meaning of complementary antonym | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A term whose meaning is the complement of another term, in an either-or fashion, such as mortal in relation to immortal.
2. One of a pair of words wherein affirmative use of one entails the negative of the other with no gradability.

Equivalents

Examples

“Complementary (also called contradictory) antonyms are those for which the assertion of one entails the negation of the other and vice versa, as in (17). a. That integer is even. → That integer is not odd. b. That integer is not odd. → That integer is even.”

CEFR level