antithesis

/an tith"euh sis/, n., pl. antitheses /-seez'/.

1. opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.

2. the direct opposite (usually fol. by of or to): Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly.

3. Rhet.

a. 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."

b. the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as "or give me death."

4. Philos. See under Hegelian dialectic.

[1520-30; < L < Gk: opposition, equiv. to anti(ti)thé(nai) to oppose + -sis -SIS. See ANTI-, THESIS]

Syn. 2. opposite, reverse.

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▪ figure of speech

from Greekantitheton, “opposition”

      a figure of speech in which irreconcilable opposites or strongly contrasting ideas are placed in sharp juxtaposition and sustained tension, as in the saying “Art is long, and Time is fleeting.”

      The opposing clauses, phrases, or sentences are roughly equal in length and balanced in contiguous grammatical structures.

The world will little note nor long remember

what we say here, but it can never forget what

they did here.

(Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address” (Gettysburg Address))

      In poetry, the effect of antithesis is often one of tragic irony or reversal.

Saddled and bridled

And booted rade he;

A plume in his helmet,

A sword at his knee;

But toom [empty] cam' his saddle

A' bloody to see,

O hame cam' his gude horse

But never cam' he!

(“Bonnie George Campbell,” anonymous)

 

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