“Antithesis (noun): The juxtaposing of contrasting words or ideas through parallel of balanced phrasing; rhetorical counterposing of opposites, as by asserting something and denying its contrary; the second or opposite element in an expressed contrast. Pl. antitheses; adj. antithetic, antithetical; adv. antithetically.
‘The poet ate his salad with his fingers, leaf by leaf, while talking to me about the antithesis of nature and art.’ Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar.”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
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