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May 7, 2021 by Luis F. Dominguez Spanish Grammar 0 comments

Your Ultimate Guide to Spanish Antonyms

Spanish antonyms are just like their English counterparts—they include adjectives, nouns, and verbs that allow you to express opposite ideas. 

In fact, they’re the opposite of Spanish synonyms. 

Actually, you could say that synonyms are the antonyms of antonyms. 

(You see what I did there?) 

In this blog post, I cover the fascinating world of Spanish antonyms. I explain in detail what they are, why you should learn about them, and what types of Spanish antonyms exist. Furthermore, I share a long, comprehensive list of Spanish antonyms divided into adjectives, nouns, and verbs. 

What Are Spanish Antonyms?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an antonym is “a word of opposite meaning.” 

Opposite of what? You may ask, and you have a point, as the concept of “opposition” can only be understood as “opposition to something.”

The same dictionary tries to clarify its definition with the following example: 

“The usual antonym of good is bad.”

And there you have a crucial characteristic of antonyms: they come in pairs, just as synonyms do. 

Good is the antonym of bad, in the same way and proportion as bad is the antonym of good. 

Spanish antonyms work in the exact same way: bueno is the antonym of malo, just as malo is the antonym of bueno. 

Spanish antonyms

Why You Should Learn About Spanish Antonyms

Most importantly, learning Spanish antonyms helps you to improve your vocabulary. 

Every new Spanish word you learn is a step closer to total fluency and makes it just a bit easier to express your thoughts to others. 

What’s more, studying Spanish antonyms helps you to understand the concepts or realities that they describe. For instance, bueno and malo describe the concept of calidad or “quality,” while the antonyms frío (cold) and caliente (hot) describe the concept of temperatura (temperature). This way, the use of antonyms can build your vocabulary to describe the variations of a concept or reality. 

You may have noticed that more than once I’ve mentioned the word “describe” in relation to antonyms and that’s because, in many cases, antonyms are adjectives. So, learning Spanish antonyms also helps you to master Spanish adjectives.

3 Types of Spanish Antonyms

While English grammar accepts the existence of only two types of antonyms (graded and complementary), Spanish antonyms include a third category: reciprocal antonyms. 

Let’s take a look at each to give you a better idea of what you’re dealing with.

1. Graded Antonyms

Graded antonyms allow you to express different shades of opposition to another term. For example, the adjectives “lukewarm,” “cold,” and “frozen” are graded antonyms to “hot.” 

Let’s see them in Spanish: 

caliente – tibio, frío, helado. 

2. Complementary Antonyms

These antonyms are mutually exclusive—meaning that when one exists, the other ceases to exist. 

For example, if you’re young, you can’t be old. And when you get old, you cease to be young. 

Other good examples of complementary antonyms are “single” and “married,” “alive,” and “dead.”

In Spanish: 

joven – viejo

soltero – casado 

vivo – muerto 

3. Reciprocal Antonyms

With reciprocal antonyms, one of the words cannot exist without the other. For example, “buying” and “selling,” or “giving” and “receiving.”

In Spanish: 

comprar – vender

dar – recibir 

Antonym Pairs

Learning some of the most common and useful pairs of Spanish antonyms will dramatically improve the quality of your conversations!

This section is organized into three categories: 

  • Adjectives
  • Nouns
  • Verbs 

Spanish Antonyms as Adjectives

Using Spanish antonyms as adjectives helps you to describe things and people (also known as nouns in grammar), which make them helpful words to know that always come in handy.

SpanishEnglish
alto – bajotall – short
largo – cortolong – short
grande – pequeñobig – small
abierto – cerradoopen – closed
brillante – oscurobright – dark
justo – injustofair – unfair
old – newviejo – nuevo
antiguo – modernoancient – modern
divertido – aburridofun – boring
bonito – feopretty – ugly
hermoso – horriblebeautiful – horrible
ancho – angostowide – narrow
frío – calientecold – hot
fuerte – débilstrong – weak
caro – baratoexpensive – cheap
duro – blandohard – soft
lleno – vacíofull – empty
soltero – casadosingle – married
vivo – muerto alive – dead
fácil – difícileasy – difficult
mucho – pocoa lot, many – a little, few
mejor – peorbest, better – worst
limpio – sucioclean – dirty
delgado – gordothin – fat
sabio – ignorantewise – ignorant
listo – tontosmart – silly
inteligente – estupidointelligent – stupid
bueno – malogood – bad
interesante – aburridointeresting – boring
correcto – incorrecto right – wrong
activo – pasivoactive – passive
dormido – despiertoslept – awake
completo – incompletocomplete – incomplete
acertado – equivocadoaccurate – wrong
alegre – tristejoyful – sad
feliz – infelizhappy – unhappy
mojado – secowet – dry
sano, saludable – enfermohealthy – sick, ill
valiente – cobardebrave – coward
blanco – negro white – black
cerca – lejosnear – far
concreto – abstractoconcrete – abstract
dulce – saladosweet – salty
humilde – orgullosohumble – proud
igual – diferenteequal, same – different 
legal – ilegal legal – illegal
ligero – pesado light – heavy
mayor – menorbigger – smaller
novato – veteranonovice, rookie – veteran
optimista – pesimistaoptimistic – pessimistic
posible – imposible possible – impossible
probable – improbableprobable – improbable
rico – pobrerich – poor

Spanish Antonyms as Nouns

Learning Spanish antonyms as nouns is a bit more complex as they require dealing with concepts, which tend to be more abstract than adjectives. 

On this list, I don’t include nouns that have already been covered as adjectives. (For example, I omit bien – mal or “good – evil” as I covered them previously.)

SpanishEnglish
love – hateamor – odio
verdad – mentiratruth – lie
éxito – fracasosuccess – failure
amigo – enemigofriend – enemy
arriba – abajoup – down
futuro – pasadofuture – past
adentro – afuerainside – outside
derecha – izquierdaright – left
activo – pasivo active – liability (accounting)
día – nocheday – night
luz – oscuridadlight – darkness
guerra – pazwar – peace
pregunta – respuestaquestion – answer
inicio – finalbeginning – end 
problema – soluciónproblem – solution
tarde – tempranolate – early
acción – reacciónaction – reaction
victoria – derrotavictory – defeat
orden – caosorder – chaos

Spanish Antonyms as Verbs

Finally, let’s explore some useful pairs of antonym verbs. 

SpanishEnglish
Construir – destruirTo build – to destroy
Abrir – cerrarTo open – to close
Ganar – perderTo win – to lose
Aceptar – rechazarTo accept – to reject
Afirmar – negarTo affirm – to deny
Hablar – callar To speak – to silence
Unir – separarTo join – to separate
Liberar – oprimirTo liberate – to oppress
Buscar – encontrarTo search – to hide
Valorar – despreciarTo value – to despise
Comprar – venderTo buy – to sell
Cobrar – pagarTo collect – to pay
Recordar – olvidarTo remember – to forget
Perdonar – castigarTo forgive – to punish
Comer – ayunarTo eat – to fast
Acelerar – frenarTo speed up – to brake, to slow down

Practicar – Olvidar

“To practice – to forget.” While these verbs aren’t exactly antonyms, they prove an important point! If you practice your newly learned Spanish antonyms, you’ll keep growing your Spanish vocabulary and will improve your understanding of adjectives and nouns. If you don’t practice what you’ve just learned, you’ll quickly forget this lesson and everything about Spanish antonyms. 

So, the question is, what are you going to do?

Sign up for a free class with one of our certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala, and start using Spanish antonyms in your conversations today!

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Luis F. Dominguez
Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy
Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.
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