Opposite Words in English, 1000+ Antonyms Words List

Opposite Words in English

An opposite word can be defined as a word that expresses a meaning as opposed to the meaning of a particular word. In this case, the two words are called antonyms of each other. ‘Opposite words’ is an important topic in English Grammar, especially at the school level and students must learn as many as antonyms/opposite words as this would be a great booster for improving their vocabulary and improving their command of the English language. 

Let’s understand the concept of Opposite words with the help of some examples-

• ‘Beautiful’ is the opposite word of ‘Ugly.’
• ‘Happiness’ is the opposite word of ‘Sadness.’
• ‘Fast’ is the opposite word of ‘Slow.’
• ‘Clean’ is the opposite word of ‘Dirty.’ and so on.

1000+ Opposite/ Antonyms Words

The topic “Opposite Words” is vast and impossible for a person to learn the antonyms of all words in the English dictionary. However, there are numerous opposite words that we often use in our daily life but some of us may don’t know the opposite of many other words. For your reference, we have tabulated 1000+ opposite words in this article, read and try to grasp some new words with their opposite meanings. Through this article, you will be able you learn numerous opposite words used in English Grammar and this will definitely enhance your vocabulary especially when you are preparing for Bank Exams, SSC Exams, UPSC, and other competitive exams where you have to prepare for English subject.  

Basic Opposite Words

Help your kid learn opposite words in a fun way from this article as we have separately listed opposite meanings of words alphabetically. The list of basic opposite words is quite important for the students of Classes 5th, 6th, and 7th as this is the time where they have to build a strong base of their vocabulary. 

A list of simple and basic opposite words in English is given below. Use them to improve your English vocabulary. If you are a kid and want to build your vocabulary strong you can read the following simple opposite words.

Word	Opposite Word
Antonym	Synonym
Approximately	Exactly
Ask	Reply
Authentic	Fake
Awake	Asleep
Bad	Good
Beautiful	Ugly
Before	After
Boy	Girl
Bold	Timid
Bright	Dim
Broad	Narrow
Best	Worst
Child	Adult
Changeable	Constant
Clemency	Ruthlessness
Concise	Lengthy
Construction	Destruction
Delicious	Awful
Descent	Ascent
Dictatorship	Republic
Domestic	Foreign
Dwindle	Flourish
Early	Late
Entrance	Exit
Even	Odd
Eccentric	Ordinary
Far	Near
Friend	Enemy
Full	Empty
Funny	Serious
Frequently	Occasionally
General	Particular, Special
Generous	Mean
Gentle	Violent
Give	Take
Happy	Sad
Hard	Easy
Heavy	Light
Honest	Dishonest
Hot	Cold
Hopeful	Desperate, Hopeless
Horizontal	Vertical
Humid	Dry
Import	Export
Inside	Outside
In	Out
Interesting	Boring, Dull
Junior	Senior
Kind	Cruel, Unkind
Large	Small
Lead	Follow
Lend	Borrow
Light	Dark
Love	Hate
Little	Big
Laugh	Cry
Left	Right
Liquid	Solid
Mend	Break
Mess	Order
Moderate	Extreme
More	Less
Man	Woman
Messy	Neat
Modern	Ancient
Normal	Strange
Opposite	Same
Opponent	Supporter
Praise	Castigate
Refuse	Agree
Regret	Satisfaction
Rich	Poor
Rude	Polite
Start	End
Sunny	Cloudy
Sweet	Sour
Strengthen	Debilitate
Tight	Loose
Top	Bottom
Thick	Thin
Tiny	Huge
Truth	Lie
Unity	Division
Useful	Useless
Victory	Defeat
Victory	Defeat
Visible	Invisible
Visitor	Host
Wide	Narrow
Wise	Foolish, Stupid
Whisper	Scream

Opposite Words in the English Language

An extensive list of opposite words/ antonyms of the most commonly used English words is given below. Let’s have a look at important Opposite Words alphabetically from letters A to Z.

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘A’

Words	Opposite Word
Adorable	Hateful
Adequate	Insufficient
Affordable	Costly
Attractive	Boring
Awesome	Bad
Abundance	Lack
Accidental	Intentional
Advanced	Elementary
Affable	Unfriendly
Amateur	Professional
Amiable	Grumpy
Ancestor	Descendant

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘B’

Words	Opposite Word
Beauty	Grotesqueness
Believe	Disbelieve
Beloved	Unbeloved
Benefit	Drawback
Balk	Impetus
Beneficial	Detrimental

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘C’

Words	Opposite Word
Care	Carelessness
Carry	Exclude
Cavalier	Humble
Clumsy	Adroit
Creative	Uninventive
Cut	Restore
Close	Far

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘D’

Words	Opposite Words
Darling	Unbeloved
Dear	Unbeloved
Deep	Shallow
Demand	Disclaim
Destroy	Raise

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘E’

Words	Opposite Words
Effective	Ineffective
Efficient	Inefficient
Effort	Ease
Enjoy	Abhor
Enough	Inadequate
Emigrate	Immigrate
Enslave	Emancipate
Ephemeral	Long-lived
Excitable	Tranquil

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘F’

Words	Opposite Words
Fabulous	Ordinary
Fair	Foul
Fast	Slow
Few	Many
Flaccid	Taut
Forgive	Resent

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘G’

Words	Opposite Words
Gentle	Abrasive
Great	Little
Genius	Stupidity
Glad	Dismayed
Gorgeous	Uninteresting

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘H’

Words	Opposite Words
Habit	Disinclination
Happy	Sad
Help	Hinder
Humanity	Inhumanity
Hurt	Heal

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘I’

Words	Opposite Words
Illegal	Legal
Ignominy	Glory
Impress	Disappoint
Intrepid	Cowardly
Independent	Dependent
Inception	Conclusion
Innocent	Guilty
Inspire	Depress
Install	Remove

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘J’

Words	Opposite Words
Joke	Humourless
Jolly	Miserable
Joy	Misery
Justice	Injustice
Justify	Disprove

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘K’

Words	Opposite Words
Keen	Reluctant
Keep	Spend
Kickoff	End
Kind	Unkind
Knowledge	Ignorance

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘L’

Words	Opposite Words
Little	Plenty
Lively	Listless
Lost	Regain
Love	Hatred
Luck	Misfortune

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘M’

Words	Opposite Words
Magic	Awful
Make	Destroy
Master	Servant
Mature	Immature
Morality	Immorality

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘N’

Words	Opposite Words
Neat	Disorderly
Need	Optional
Next	Previous
Nice	Unpleasant
Normal	Abnormal

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘O’

Words	Opposite Words
Objective	Biassed
Odium	Affection
Offer	Withdraw
Omnipotent	Impotent
Optimistic	Pessimistic
Outstanding	Mediocre

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘P’

Words	Opposite Words
Pause	Continue
Peace	Noise
Potential	Impotence
Power	Inability
Pretty	Plain

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘Q’

Words	Opposite Words
Qualify	Disqualify
Quality	Inadequacy
Quick	Slow
Quiet	Loud
Quit	Stay

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘R’

Words	Opposite Words
Real	Unreal
Recall	Forget
Relax	Tense
Report	Silence
Rough	Gentle

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘S’

Words	Opposite Words
Simple	Difficult
Sincere	Perfunctory
Small	Big
Soft	Hard
Sure	Unsure

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘T’

Words	Opposite Words
Talent	Inability
Talkative	Taciturn
Target	Deselect
Task	Inactivity
Tenderhearted	Fiendish
Triumph	Defeat

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘U’

Words	Opposite Words
Unique	Common
Upturn	Slump
Unite	Divide
Unlimited	Finite
Uplift	Lower
Useful	Useless

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘V’

Words	Opposite Words
Valid	Invalid
Valuable	Worthless
Variety	Uniformity
Vast	Tiny
Victory	Defeat

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘W’

Words	Opposite Words
Warning	Neglect
Wealth	Poverty
Winner	Loser
Wise	Stupid
Worthy	Unimportant

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘X’

Words	Opposite Words
Xenial	Inhospitable
Xenophobic	Impartial
Xeroxes	Original

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘Y’

Words	Opposite Word
Young	Old
Yield	Resist
Yearning	Disinclination
Youthful	Old
Yummy	Unappetizing

Opposite Words Starting with the Letter ‘Z’

Words	Opposite Word
Zappy	Melancholy
Zany	Sane
Zeal	Apathy
Zenith	Nadir, Bottom
Zen	Disturbed
Zingy	Sullen

 

Opposite Words Exercise for SSC and UPSC Exams

The aspirants appearing for government examinations frequently face questions related to antonyms/opposite words in the English language section of various exams such as SSC (SSC CGL, CHSL, JE etc.), UPSC (NDA, CDS etc), Banking and more. Opposite Words are asked in the vocabulary section which won’t be as simple as the basic opposite words listed above. Practice for opposite words with a few important questions enlisted below from the perspective of competitive examinations.

Directions: In the following questions, choose the word opposite in meaning to the given word. 

Q1. MELODIOUS 
(a) Harmonious 
(b) Tuneless 
(c) Odious 
(d) Mellifluous 

Ans. (c) 
Sol. Melodious: pleasant to listen to, Odious: extremely unpleasant, horrible. Mellifluous: pleasingly smooth and musical to hear. Hence Melodious and Odious are antonyms to each other. 

Q2. FIENDISH 
(a) Diabolical 
(b) Devilish 
(c) Reimbursement 
(d) Friendly 

Ans. (d) 
Sol. Fiendish: cruel and unpleasant: extremely clever and complicated. Friendly: Behaving in a kind and pleasant way showing kindness. Reimbursement: a sum paid to cover the money that has been spent or lost. Hence Fiendish and Friendly are antonyms to each other. 

Q3. SUBSEQUENT 
(a) Eventual 
(b) Succeeding 
(c) Prior 
(d) Comparative 

Ans. (c) 
Sol. Subsequent: Happening or coming after something else. Prior: Happening or existing before something else. Hence Subsequent and Prior are antonyms to each other.

Q4. SOBRIETY 
(a) Modernization 
(b) Drunkenness 
(c) Despicable 
(d) Stupidity 

Ans. (b) 
Sol. Sobriety: the state of being sober not being drunk; the fact of being sensible and serious. Despicable: deserving hatred and contempt. Drunkenness: the state of being drunk; intoxication. Hence Sobriety and Drunkenness are antonyms to each other. 

Q5. NEFARIOUS 
(a) Slapdash 
(b) Perfect 
(c) Unblemished 
(d) Righteous 

Ans. (d) 
Sol. Nefarious: (typically of an action or activity) wicked or criminal. Righteous: morally right or justifiable. Slapdash: done too hurriedly and carelessly. Hence Nefarious and Righteous are antonyms to each other. 

Q6. RECUPERATE 
(a) Relapse 
(b) Rude 
(c) Rush 
(d) Sparse 

Ans. (a) 
Sol. Recuperate: recover from illness or exertion. Relapse: a deterioration in someone’s state of health after a temporary improvement. Sparse: scanty; in short supply. Hence Recuperate and Relapse is antonyms to each other. 

Q7. TREMULOUS 

(a) Healthy 
(b) Steady 
(c) Obese 
(d) Young 

Ans. (b) 
Sol. Tremulous: shaking or quivering slightly. Steady: firmly fixed, supported, or balanced; not shaking or moving. Obese: grossly fat or overweight. Hence Tremulous and Steady are antonyms to each other.

Q8. ELUDE 
(a) Dodge 
(b) Support 
(c) Thwart 
(d) Flee 

Ans. (b) 
Sol. Elude: evade or escape from (a danger, enemy or pursuer), typically in a skillful or cunning way. Dodge: avoid (someone or something) by a sudden quick movement. Thwart: prevent (someone) from accomplishing something. Hence Elude and Support are antonyms to each other. 

Q9. CONTEMPTUOUS 
(a) Respected 
(b) Derisive (c) 
Haughty 
(d) Expedite 

Ans. (a) Sol. Contemptuous: showing contempt; scornful. Derisive: expressing contempt or ridicule. Expedite: make (an action or process) happen sooner. Hence Contemptuous and Respected are antonyms to each other. 

Q10. RELISH 
(a) Zest 
(b) Apathy 
(c) Corporal 
(d) Prototype 

Ans. (b) Sol. Relish: Great Enjoyment. Apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Hence Relish and Apathy are antonyms to each other.