Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ANTITHETICAL
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pronounce
ANTITHETICAL:
Say it "AN tih THET ick ull."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
Our word antithetical looks a bit like synthetic, hypothetical, and parenthetical because at the heart of all these words is the Greek tithenai, meaning "to put, to place."
The same is true for the two words below, which also involve some kind of figurative putting or placing:
1) ___thema, literally "something placed before (the gods)," but today meaning "something deeply hated." As in, "Crosses, sunlight, holy water--they're all ___thema to vampires."
2) ___thet, literally "something placed onto someone," and meaning "a descriptive nickname, or an offensive name." As in, "He was born William Pratt, but before becoming a vampire, he earned the ___thet 'William the Bloody'--for his 'bloody awful poetry.'"
Could you recall both terms?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Let's start with our word "thesis," which comes from a Greek one meaning "a placing, a situation, or an arrangement."
In English, of course, a thesis is often an arrangement of ideas: it's a main point, or an idea to be argued, especially in writing.
An antithesis, then, is "a placing against:" a set of two opposite main ideas. (Pronounce "antithesis" like this: "an TITH ih siss.") Here's an antithesis: "Buffy is campy and silly; Interview with the Vampire is dark and brooding."
An antithesis can also be just an exact opposite: "With all its campiness and silly jokes, Buffy seemed the antithesis of the dark vampire drama."
So, something antithetical is completely opposite or totally different (compared to something else). That's the meaning we use most of the time.
We can also use "antithetical" to mean "expressing a set of two opposite ideas." This, again, is an antithetical statement: "Buffy is campy and silly; Interview with the Vampire is dark and brooding."
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "Those actions are antithetical to our principles."
Other common forms:
The adverb is "antithetically."
The singular noun is "antithesis" (an TITH ih siss), and the plural noun is "antitheses" (an TITH uh seeze).
how to use it:
The word "antithetical" is rare, but easily understood. So feel free to reach for it when you need to draw extra attention to the fact two things are exact opposites.
With five syllables, "antithetical" is a bit longer than our words "diametric" and "antipodal." It's more abstract, too. All three mean the same thing, but each creates a slightly different picture in the mind of your reader. I suggest picking "antithetical" instead of the other two when you're going for a tone that's lofty and scholarly.
The way we most often use "antithetical" is by saying that one thing--often a thing we dislike--is antithetical to another. "This is antithetical to our traditions." "That's antithetical to our values." "This is antithetical to our goal here." "That's antithetical to a civilized world."
examples:
"These scientists didn’t want to be associated with security clearances, whose secret-keeping was antithetical to the open nature of science."
— Sarah Scoles, New York Times, 24 July 2020
"Social distancing is antithetical to most celebrations here, where guests greet one another with a customary kiss on the cheek and nearly everyone — even children — takes to the dance floor."
— Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2020
has this page helped you understand "antithetical"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "antithetical" without saying "in complete opposition" or "diametric."
try it out:
Once, I was sitting in a restaurant, close enough to overhear a mother and her young son as she drilled him for a spelling bee. She was so harsh with him, practically yelling: "NO, that's WRONG, now do it AGAIN. NO, you're WRONG again." It made me feel sick. I was summoning the courage to intervene when they left. I still regret having said nothing.
The boy had been trying his best to learn, and in return, he was getting berated. How horrible. How antithetical to the basic belief that children deserve encouragement when they try to learn--and when they make mistakes.
With this incident in mind as an example, talk about something you've witnessed or read about: something that seems particularly awful to you because it's antithetical to one of your basic beliefs.
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is Perfectly Cromulent Words!
In each issue this month, match a scene from The Simpsons to the term that it calls to mind.
To see the answer, scroll to the bottom of the issue.
Try this one today:
Does the scene below suggest the word cacophony, chicanery, or camaraderie?
review this word:
A. SIMILAR.
B. IMAGINARY.
C. PROPHETIC.
2. Around the holidays, their house is a kaleidoscope of noise, movement, and clutter, the antithesis of the "_____" kind of holiday I love best.
A. Jingle Bells
B. Silent Night
C. I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Our word antithetical looks a bit like synthetic, hypothetical, and parenthetical because at the heart of all these words is the Greek tithenai, meaning "to put, to place."
Let's start with our word "thesis," which comes from a Greek one meaning "a placing, a situation, or an arrangement."
Part of speech:
The word "antithetical" is rare, but easily understood. So feel free to reach for it when you need to draw extra attention to the fact two things are exact opposites.
"These scientists didn’t want to be associated with security clearances, whose secret-keeping was antithetical to the open nature of science."
Explain the meaning of "antithetical" without saying "in complete opposition" or "diametric."
Once, I was sitting in a restaurant, close enough to overhear a mother and her young son as she drilled him for a spelling bee. She was so harsh with him, practically yelling: "NO, that's WRONG, now do it AGAIN. NO, you're WRONG again." It made me feel sick. I was summoning the courage to intervene when they left. I still regret having said nothing.
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
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