contradictory (adj./n.)

A term sometimes used in SEMANTICS to refer to a SENSE relation between LEXICAL ITEMS. ‘Contradictory terms’ (or ‘contradictories’) display a type of oppositeness of MEANING, illustrated by such pairs as male/female and single/married. Because of the technical use of this term in logic (where it refers to a relationship between two propositions such that they cannot both be true or both false), some semanticists prefer to use COMPLEMENTARITY to refer to the LINGUISTIC relationship involved in such opposites.