- opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.
- the direct opposite (usually followed by of or to): Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly.
- Rhetoric.
- the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”
- the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as “or give me death.”
- See under Hegelian dialectic.
- the exact opposite
- contrast or opposition
- the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, phrases, or words so as to produce an effect of balance, such as my words fly up, my thoughts remain below
- the second stage in the Hegelian dialectic contradicting the thesis before resolution by the synthesis
