antithesis
noun
Did you know?
Writers and speechmakers use the traditional pattern known as antithesis for its resounding effect; John Kennedy's famous "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country" is an example. But antithesis normally means simply "opposite". Thus, war is the antithesis of peace, wealth is the antithesis of poverty, and love is the antithesis of hate. Holding two antithetical ideas in one's head at the same time—for example, that you're the sole master of your fate but also the helpless victim of your terrible upbringing—is so common as to be almost normal.
Synonyms
Examples of antithesis in a Sentence
Claudia Wallis, Time, 8 Aug. 2005
Yet the newest residential rage in Dallas is the antithesis of the traditional neighborhood: the gated community. Depending on your income and level of anxiety, these private enclaves may contain golf courses, health clubs and equestrian centers …
—Paul McFedries, Word Spy, 2004
Cato, who dosed his family on cabbage soup, derided Greek physicians as the antithesis of Roman virtue: they were frauds who cheated patients and 'have sworn to kill all barbarians with their drugs'.
—Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, 1997
true love for another is the antithesis of the desire to control that person's life
Justice Delos Santos, The Mercury News, 22 Sep. 2024
Decades on, Monet still spoke of Boudin as a creative father, the antithesis of his biological one.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 16 Sep. 2024
And famously, in 2000, Lucian Freud painted a portrait of the Queen that seemed the antithesis of earlier, romanticized depictions of her, and divided both critics and the public.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 11 Sep. 2024
There is also a particular American version of this tendency to idealize the EU as a model of multilateralism that is the antithesis of everything that Trump stands for.
—Hans Kundnani, Foreign Affairs, 10 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for antithesis 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antithesis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near antithesis
Cite this Entry
“Antithesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antithesis. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
antithesis
noun
Share