complementary antonym

The term "complementary antonym" refers to pairs of words where one represents the exact opposite of the other, with no middle ground.

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Definition

(technical, academic)A pair of words where the presence of one state or quality implies the absence of the other, with no intermediate states.

In the pair 'alive' and 'dead', if something is alive, it cannot be dead, and vice versa.
The words 'on' and 'off' are complementary antonyms because a device can only be in one of these two states.

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "complementary antonym":