Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’ Lexicon

According to the character of semantic opposition:

Antonyms proper (contrary antonyms) are antonyms which possess the following characteristics:

-they are gradable, i.e. there are some intermediate units between the most distant members of a set, e.g. cold – cool – tepid – warm – hot; never – seldom – sometimes – often – always;

-they are capable of comparison, e.g. good – better – best vs. bad – worse – worst;

-they can be modified by such intensifiers as very, slightly, extremely, fairly, rather etc., e.g. huge – very big – BIG – quite big – medium-sized – quite small – SMALL – very small – tiny;

-they do not deny one another, e.g. She is not beautiful ≠She is ugly;

-they refer not to independent absolute qualities but to some implicit norm, e.g. a big mouse vs a small elephant.