ANTITHETICAL: 1: constituting or marked by the opposition or contrast of ideas @; being in direct and unequivocal opposition
"Antithetical" and "antithesis" entered English in the 16th century. Their etymological aths pass through Late Latin and ultimately lead to Greek (the Greek verb antitithenai means "to oppose" and "antithesis" means "opposition"). The oldest sense of the English "antithesis" refers to a language pattern that contrasts parallel ideas, as in "action, not words" or "they promised freedom and provided slavery." "Antithetical" can mean "constituting or marked by such language patterns"; for example, you could say that the phrase "action, not words" is "an antihetical construction." It is more common in current use, however, for "antithesis" to mean "the exact opposite" and for "antithetical" to mean "directly opposite," with special emphasis on the diametrical nature of the opposition.
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