Talk:complementary antonym

Incongruity with Wikipedia

The way it's described in the Wikipedia article Opposite (semantcs), complementary antonyms are basically any non-gradable antonym. "Exhale" and "inhale" are listed as examples there despite not having an either-or relationship the way "mortal" and "immortal" do (e.g. a person holding their breath, or any inanimate object, is neither inhaling nor exhaling), though the affirmative of one does imply the negative of the other.

However, the Wikipedia article Converse (semantics) states that converses are sometimes called complementary antonyms, and while that seems to jibe with the mortal/immortal definition, it throws into question the second definition where the affirmative of one implies the negative of the other, since a component in one relationship can play the opposite role in another, such as a grad student who also lectures to underclassmen or a parent who's still the proginy of their own parents.

It just seems like there ought to be a way to clear all this up, though it's certainly possible that different authors have simply used the term in such conflicting contexts as to make it difficult to define precisely. I hope there is still a clear explanation somewhere out there. Renaissance Jack (talk) 01:13, 21 June 2022 (UTC)