Friends, today we are going to learn something new and complex. It was always interesting for me to study lexicology. The truth is not all aspects, but only a few. So, it has always been informative to learn about neologisms or archaisms, synonyms and antonyms. I hope you know what it is and there is no point in giving a precise definition.

You need to raise your level, and there is nothing better than learning words, starting not from the translation, but from the same words, but only in the opposite meaning. The sentence turned out to be "butter, oily", but I think it's pretty clear. The dictionary turned out in the "English - English" format, and there are few such props, which is not good. It will also fill this niche with various benefits. Forward to study.

List of studied antonyms with translation:

absent - present
accurate - inaccurate
active, energetic, lively - inactive, passive, apathetic
attentive, considerate, thoughtful - inattentive, inconsiderate
awful, terrible, horrible, dreadful - great, excellent, wonderful
awkward, clumsy - skillful, dexterous, adroit, deft
basic, fundamental - secondary, additional
beautiful, attractive, good-looking, pretty - ugly, repulsive
best - worst
big, large - little, small
bold, confident - timid, shy
brave, bold, courageous, fearless - afraid, frightened, scared, timid, cowardly
bright, clear, vivid, colorful - dull, dim, colorless
busy, occupied - free
calm, quiet, peaceful - noisy, agitated, excited, nervous
careful, cautious - careless
cheerful, joyful - cheerless, gloomy
clean, neat, tidy - dirty, untidy
clever, smart - foolish, silly, stupid
cold, chilly, cool - hot, warm
comfortable, cozy - uncomfortable
confident, sure, certain, positive - doubtful, uncertain
constructive - destructive
convenient - inconvenient
correct - incorrect, wrong
crazy, insane - reasonable, sensible, rational
cruel, merciless, ruthless, brutal, inhuman - kind, merciful, humane
dead - alive
deep, profound - shallow, superficial
definite, clear - vague, indefinite
delicious, tasty - tasteless, unpalatable, inedible
different - the same, similar
difficult, hard - easy
dry - wet
eager, willing - reluctant, unwilling
early - late
economic (situation), economical (car)
educated, literate - uneducated, ignorant, illiterate
empty - full
essential, indispensable, requisite, necessary, required - unnecessary, optional, dispensable
even, smooth - rough, uneven
even - odd, uneven
evident, obvious, clear, plain - vague, obscure
evil, malicious - kind, nice, good
exact, precise - inaccurate, inexact
expensive, costly, valuable - inexpensive, cheap
experienced, skilled, competent, qualified - inexperienced, unskilled, incompetent, unqualified
fair, just, objective, unbiased, impartial - unfair, unjust, biased, prejudiced
faithful, loyal, devoted - unfaithful, disloyal, treacherous
famous, renowned, celebrated, distinguished, well-known - unknown, obscure
far, distant, remote - near, close
fast, quick, rapid, speedy, swift - slow
favorable, beneficial, profitable - harmful
fine, refined, delicate, exquisite - common, coarse, gross, vulgar
firm, steady, stable, strong - shaky, unstable, weak
first - last
flexible - rigid, inflexible, stiff
foreign, alien - domestic, local, native
fragile, delicate - strong, sturdy
frequent - rare, infrequent
fresh - stale
friendly - unfriendly, hostile
front - back, rear
funny, amusing, humorous, comic, comical, laughable, ridiculous - serious, grave
general - special, particular, specific
gentle, mild, soft - coarse, rough, harsh, severe
good, nice, pleasant - bad, unpleasant, disgusting
happy, glad, pleased - unhappy, sad, miserable
hard - soft
heavy - light
high - low
historic (moment), historical (fact)
honest, truthful, trustworthy, sincere - dishonest, insincere
huge, enormous, colossal, giant, gigantic - small, tiny
important, significant - unimportant, insignificant, petty
incredible, unbelievable, fantastic
independent, free - dependent, not free
intelligent, wise - dull, stupid
interested, curious - uninterested / disinterested, indifferent, bored
interesting - dull, boring
kind, good-natured - strict, unkind, ill-natured
lazy, idle - hard-working
light - dark
long - short, brief, concise
loud, noisy - quiet, soft
loving, fond, affectionate, tender - unloving, indifferent, harsh
lucky, fortunate - unlucky, unfortunate
magnificent, grand, majestic - shabby, miserable
main, chief, principal - subordinate, subsidiary, secondary, auxiliary, additional
moral, ethical, decent - immoral, unethical, indecent, obscene
narrow - wide
natural - unnatural, affected
necessary, required - unnecessary
new, modern, up-to-date - old, old-fashioned, outdated, ancient
noble, honorable - mean
normal, usual, standard, regular - strange, peculiar, odd, unusual
original - ordinary, banal, trite
outstanding, prominent, eminent, remarkable - ordinary, mediocre
patient - impatient
polite, civilized, well-mannered - impolite, rude, ill-mannered
positive - negative
possible, probable, likely - impossible, improbable, unlikely
previous, preceding, former - next, following
primary - secondary
proper, appropriate, suitable, fitting - improper, inappropriate, unsuitable
proud, arrogant, haughty - modest, humble
real, genuine, authentic - artificial, fake, fictitious
reasonable, sensible, logical - unreasonable, illogical, absurd, crazy, foolish, ridiculous
reliable, dependable - unreliable
respectable, reputable - notorious, infamous
rich, wealthy, well-to-do - poor
right - left
right, correct, true - wrong, incorrect, not true, false, erroneous
round - square, triangular
safe, secure - unsafe, insecure, dangerous
sharp, keen, acute - dull, blunt
shy, timid - confident, self-confident
sick, ill - healthy
simple - complex, complicated
strong, tough, sturdy - weak, delicate, fragile
stubborn, obstinate - compliant, docile, obedient
sufficient, adequate, enough - insufficient, inadequate, not enough
suitable, fitting, appropriate - unsuitable, inappropriate
surprising, amazing - ordinary
sweet - sour, bitter, salty
tall - short
tense - relaxed
thick, fat - thin, slim, slender
tight - loose
true - false, deceptive, misleading
understandable, clear, intelligible, comprehensible - unclear, not clear, unintelligible, incomprehensible
useful, helpful - useless
whole, entire, complete, full, total - incomplete, limited, partial
young - middle-aged, old, elderly

P.S. If you do not like something in the dictionary itself, you can always edit, and not write a comment of "indignation". I give you a beginning, and you yourself decide what to do with this start.

A selection in format for Lingvo Tutor 12

Selection in Excel format with transcription

Riddle number one. Is it possible to replace with impunity enormous to its synonym monumental?

Riddle number two. What is the antonym of the word long?

Despite tons of new advanced vocabulary, students continue to use simple words like good, bad, beautiful, interesting, and the teachers continue to beg them: “Well, tell amazing, fantastic, awesome!»

And this is all true, you can't argue. Take a look at the old post about, it has not lost its relevance.

However, since then there have been new thoughts about synonyms, antonyms and phrases in the English language.

Synonyms in English

Advanced synonyms are great. But there is one big BUT.

Just because words are synonymous doesn't mean they are universal and interchangeable. Different synonyms can have different combinations. Just because

• enormous
• giant
• substantial

Synonyms do not mean that they are always interchangeable.

Dictionary definitions of different synonyms do not add clarity:

• notably large in size, amount or extent
• exceptionally large or heavy
• large and heavy, impressively large

These are definitions of 3 DIFFERENT words. Do you see the difference? Here I am not. The dictionary in this case does not help, but only confuses. Much more useful for understanding the difference (and the difference in meanings, and the difference in usage) is the knowledge of phrases.

Different synonyms are often combined with different words in different contexts.

• enormous appetite (but not monumental)
• giant screen (but not dramatic)
• vast majority (but not enormous)
• substantial breakfast (but not vast)

Let's take a word at the same time small and do the same with it. I'll even give screenshots from the Longman Dictionary Online, so you can be sure that I did not invent these definitions myself.

How do you like it? Are these definitions very helpful?

But phrases with different synonyms for small

• tiny hint / bikini / minority
• petty crime / theft / cash
• miniature golf / version
• teeny bit / bit upset / piece
• baby carrots
• miniscule fragment / portion
• small-scale enterprise / production
• slight difference / accent
• limited period / number of (tickets)
• minute detail / trace

Quite another matter!

The funniest thing I've heard on this topic is the phrase:

When I was * miniscule, I loved candies

It's just that the student decided to start using advanced synonyms for ordinary words, downloaded one of the lists that are walking on the network, and began to sculpt whatever went anywhere. Specifically, in this context, about “when I was little” and no fancy synonyms are needed, enough:

When I was little / a kid, I loved candies.

Antonyms in English

While we're on the subject of synonyms, it's worth talking about antonyms as well. Sometimes it is very interesting with them.

What is the antonym of the word long? If at the beginning of your post your first impulse was to short, read on))

In fact, to the question "what is the antonym of the word X?" cannot be answered without taking into account phrases. For example, in long word the antonym is, indeed, short word.

And here it will be different:

• long breakfast - quick breakfast
• long experience - limited experience
• long discussion - brief discussion

(In Google and in the corpus of examples brief discussion many times more than short discussion, which means though short seems to be not a mistake, brief discussion- a more common phrase.)

That is, you cannot just take and answer the question “what is the antonym of the word long(and any other) "?)) Most often, the antonym will be short, but not at all necessary.

Or with a word subtle and its antonyms, let's have fun:

• subtle colors - bold colors
• subtle flavor - pronounced flavor
• subtle message - clear message

Walk so walk! Let's do the same with antonyms heavy:

• heavy rain - light rain
• heavy accent - slight accent
• heavy criticism - minor criticism ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Stop learning words!

All of the above is one of the reasons to love, chunks and lexical approach. Words are combined in a certain way with certain words, but not with others.

You can't just throw words; you cannot randomly replace all simple words with advanced synonyms; you cannot think linearly in terms of long– short, heavy– light, rich - poor- and still sound natural in English.

Antonyms in English

Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning. For example, hot - cold, morning - evening, slow - fast, etc. When studying Russian in the school curriculum, some time is allocated to antonyms.

English also has antonyms, that is, words with the opposite meaning. As a rule, when studying a language at school or institute, attention is not always paid to antonyms. This is easily explained, because a person who studies Russian at school and knows the definition of the word "antonyms" can independently find such pairs of words.

However, in our opinion, the most popular and frequently used antonyms can be distinguished into a separate group for ... After all, we all know that words are best taught in groups. That is, when the words are somehow related to each other.

Of course, the collection of English antonyms below does not claim to be complete. In addition to these examples, hundreds of other antonyms can be cited. But we tried to collect a small English dictionary of antonyms. For the convenience of studying the words, antonyms are not only written, but also made in the form of plates that you can print and take with you.

empty - full
empty - full

difficult, hard - easy
difficult - easy

different - the same, similar
different - the same, similar

fast, quick - slow
fast - slow

clever - foolish, stupid
quick-witted / smart - stupid, dumb

correct - incorrect, wrong
correct - wrong

deep - shallow
deep - shallow

crazy - reasonable, sensible
crazy - reasonable, sane

exact, precise - inaccurate, inexact
exact - imprecise

dry - wet
dry - wet

frequent - rare
frequent - rare

first - last
first - last

funny, amusing - serious
funny, funny / entertaining - serious

accurate - inaccurate
correct / accurate - incorrect / imprecise

busy, occupied - free
busy - free

calm, quiet - noisy, excited
calm, quiet - noisy, agitated

cold, cool - hot, warm
cold, cool - hot, warm

early - late
early - late

dead - alive
dead - alive

front - back, rear
front - back

active, energetic - inactive, passive
active, energetic - inactive, passive

big, large - little, small
big small

bright, colorful - dull, colorless
bright, colorful - dull, colorless

bold, confident - timid, shy
brave, confident - timid, shy

clean, neat - dirty
clean, tidy - dirty

attentive - inattentive
attentive - inattentive

brave, bold - afraid, frightened
brave, brave - afraid, scared

awful, terrible - great, excellent, wonderful
terrible - great, wonderful

comfortable, cozy - uncomfortable
comfortable / comfortable, cozy - uncomfortable

best - worst
the best is the worst

delicious, tasty - tasteless, inedible
tasty - tasteless, inedible

educated - uneducated, ignorant
educated - uneducated, ignorant

careful, cautious - careless
prudent, cautious - reckless

cruel, merciless - kind, humane
cruel, ruthless - kind, humane

dangerous - safe
dangerous - safe / safe

beautiful, attractive, good-looking, pretty - ugly
handsome, attractive, good-looking, pretty - ugly

cheerful - gloomy
joyful - gloomy

fresh - stale
fresh - stale

friendly - unfriendly, hostile
friendly - unfriendly, hostile

firm, stable - shaky, unstable
hard, stable - wobbly, unstable

far, distant - near, close
distant, distant - close

even, smooth - rough, uneven
even, smooth - uneven, not smooth

confident, sure - not sure
confident - not sure

foreign - domestic, local
foreign - domestic, local

decent - indecent, obscene
decent / decent - indecent, obscene

fair, just - unfair, unjust
fair - unjust

faithful, loyal - unfaithful, disloyal
faithful / devoted - unfaithful

Once again, we want to say that this is not a complete dictionary of English antonyms. But, gradually , you will be able to independently select pairs of such words. In English, as in Russian, there are a lot of antonyms.