| 释义 |
antithesis|ænˈtɪθɪsɪs|
Pl. antitheses.
[a. L. antithesis, a. Gr. ἀντίθεσις opposition, n. of action f. ἀντιτιθέναι, f. ἀντί against + τιθέναι (stem θε-) to place; already in Gr. a term of Logic and Rhetoric.]
1. Rhet. An opposition or contrast of ideas, expressed by using as the corresponding members of two contiguous sentences or clauses, words which are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other; as ‘he must increase, but I must decrease,’ ‘in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.’
1529Frith (title) Antithesis; wherein are compared togeder Christes actes and oure holye Father the Popes. 1674Govt. Tongue iii. §17. 115 These are miserable antithesis's. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 254 All arm'd with points, antitheses and puns. 1748J. Mason Elocution 29 In an Antithesis, one contrary must be pronounced louder than the other. 1872W. Minto Eng. Lit. Introd. 9 When the balanced clauses stand in antithesis, it lends emphasis to the opposition.
2. The second of two such opposed clauses or sentences; a proposition opposed to a thesis; a counter-thesis or -proposition.
1533Frith Answ. More F ij, As the contrarye antithesis doth euidently expresse. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles III. Pref., Impossible..to discusse such an hypothesis without some opposition against such as defend the antithesis. 1678Owen Mind of God iii. 91 Given to disputing, or the maintaining of Antitheseses, or oppositions unto the Truth 1833Coleridge Table T. 264 The style of Junius is a sort of metre, the law of which is a balance of thesis and antithesis.
3. By extension: Direct or striking opposition of character or functions (between two things); contrast. Const. of, between (with obs.).
1631Preston Effec. Faith 40 That Antithesis, that opposition that is made in that withdrawing of a mans selfe from God. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke xxxviii. (1879) 410 The antithesis of natural and revealed religion. 1872Darwin Emotions i. 5 Movements, so clearly expressive of affections..being in complete opposition or antithesis to the attitude and movements which are expressive of anger.
4. The direct opposite, the contrast. Const. of, to.
1831Macaulay Moore's Byron, Ess. I. 161 The reverse of a great dramatist, the very antithesis to a great dramatist. 1857H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets vii. 244 Rhyme is sometimes taken as the antithesis of reason. 1879Farrar Paul II. 327 Is not the Pharisaic spirit..the antithesis of the Christian?
†5. (See quot.) Obs.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict. B ij a, Antithesis, or Antistœchon: where if l follows immediately after r..they change r into l, to make the sound the pleasanter, as for Dexarle, dexalle. 1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 172 Antithesis is sometimes a figure, whereby one letter is put for another; and then it is the same with Antistoichon. |