antithesis
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
antithesis /anˈtɪθəsɪs/
▶noun (pl. antitheses /-siːz/)
- 1 a person or thing that is the direct opposite of another.
■ a contrast or opposition between two things.
- 2 a rhetorical or literary device in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed.
- 3 (in Hegelian philosophy) the negation of the thesis as the second stage in the process of dialectical reasoning. Compare with synthesis.
– origin ME: from late L., from Gk antitithenai ‘set against’.
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