Equipollent or Overlapping??

Feb 28, 2008 at 2:51 PM
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I'm confused! I'm trying to figure out the difference between equipollent and overlapping antonyms. See for the test today, on question 2 honest:dishonest I marked it as being equipollent antonyms because I thought both are committed to their meanings. However, could it be overlapping where one term is impartial and the other is committed? For instance, I think it sounds odd to say "She is honest, but more dishonest than him" or "She is dishonest but more honest than him." To me you are either or meaning you are committed to only one term. What do you all think?

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I answered it overlapping because when I thought about it, if you ask "How dishonest is he?", it is presupposing that he is dishonest to start with. I also think honest is more impartial where dishonest is committed but, that is just me...I am sure other people saw it differently.

i must be wayyyyy off--i put that they were complementaries-- i see them as binaries. (f)x entails and is entailed by not (f)y. maybe i still need a lot of work on antonymy. perhaps i'm just looking at 'prototype' examples of each kind of opposites. there are definitly some 'fuzzy' areas...

Oh no, I think I goofed! For some reason I think I accidentally put polar for some reason? Even though I think one is impatial and one is committed, like you said. I definately do not think it is possible to say "She is honest, but more dishonet than him". That just doesnt make sense to me because if you are honest, you cannot be dishonest as well. I feel, however, it is okay to say "She is dishonest,but more honest than him". Hopefully I did put down overlapping, because I feel that is the kind of antonym it is!

Equipollent or Overlapping??

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