The Science of Opposites

The science of opposites where we aim to explore the opposite of every noun in the English language.

Nouns don't tend to have opposites - words like knife, pen, house, car and phone are somehow more complete when you find their logical partner.

Register and play your part in solving one of language's great mysteries. If we all do 1 noun each, we'll have this finished in no time.

About Opposites

Some people think the opposite of knife is fork but we don't subscribe to this view.

Just because something is spatially opposite at a dinner setting doesn't mean that its an opposite. The purpose of a knife is to cut. The opposite of knife is therefore glue.

To define the opposite of a noun, you first distill its function. Then, find the opposite function (since verbs tend to have opposites!).

Finally, find a noun that fulfills this function.

This is a relatively new branch of science and opposology laws are emerging at an alarming rate.

The purpose of this site is to allow people around the world to deposit nouns and work together to find their opposites.

All you need to do is register and you can help with our quest to find an opposite for every noun in the English language.

Home Tuition

To oppress enjoyment through seriousness based on:

1. staying in a single location
2. order
3. general knowledge
4. loneliness.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Dave Gorman
0
No votes yet
 

Government

Something that shits on you.

0
No votes yet
 

Morning

The daily anniversary of the start of another day.

It is generally not celebrated whatsoever and is met with much huffing and puffing, especially on weekdays.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Birthday
0
No votes yet
 

Fur

To keep a land animal warm and act as a form camouflage.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Highlighter Snow
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
 

Trombone

A brass instrument whose musical pitch can be altered by sliding part of it backwards and forward to change its length.

Made famous in the theme tune to 'Johnny Briggs'

0
No votes yet
 

Markerboard

A indefinitely usable writing surface. Its information is easily erased or distorted. It acts as a temporary reservoir.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Stone Tablet
0
No votes yet
 

Hair

To cover up your head and keep it warm.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Ice Hat
0
No votes yet
 

Egg

To provide chickens.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Fox
0
No votes yet
 

Insect dungeon

A place to get stressed and tolerate nature inside your own house.

An insect dungeon is a small darkened room containing free roaming insects. A light occasionally flashes for upto 2 seconds to show occupants where the insects are.

It is also possible to have Snake, Bat, Wolf and Bear dungeons.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Garden
0
No votes yet
 

China

System that is political, lacks freedom and openness

0
No votes yet
 

Trainers

Footwear designed to facilitate sporting physical activities.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Diving Boots
0
No votes yet
 

Tooth Extraction

Medical procedure where a tooth is removed from the mouth, usually due to irreparable damage caused by stupidity such as eating too much sugar and not keeping adequate standards of dental hygiene.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Medal
0
No votes yet
 

Theatre

A place that you pay to visit in search of culture and enjoyment.

0
No votes yet
 

Ice Hat

A kind of transparent hat which you can wear to uncover your head and make it cold.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Hair
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Chauce Code Device

A communication device that makes it inconvenient to communicate by completely interrupting what you're currently doing.

The device has 2 large iron wheels. The left wheel is for vowels and the right wheel is for consonants.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Mobile Phone
4.5
Average: 4.5 (2 votes)
 

Table leg

supports a hard flat surface with the help of (usually) three others ..

Opposite of ARMCHAIR

Opposites identified
opposite: 
armchair
0
No votes yet
 

Money

To pay for things.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Thing
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
 

USB Memory Stick

Something small and convenient to store information on, thus keeping it safe and allowing it to be transported from place to place.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Elephant
0
No votes yet
 

Bicycle

To transport you, quickly, efficently, but not very comfortably between two or more places.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Walking Shoes
0
No votes yet
 

Skype

A service that makes it free to talk to people you know, about whatever subject you choose.

0
No votes yet
 

iPod

A means of storing hundreds of your favourite songs so that you can listen to them wherever you go on.

Also, a squar(ish) thing for keeping all of your music on.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Piped Music
opposite: 
Compact Disc
0
No votes yet
 

Chewing Gum

To chew without swallowing for pleasure due to lasting flavour.

5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Time

Time makes things dirty. If you leave something alone, it will get dirty. If you use something, it will get dirty. If you clean something, etc., etc..

Opposites identified
opposite: 
soap
0
No votes yet
 

Mouse

Computer Mouse: to control the cursor on a computer display.

0
No votes yet
 

calculator

Hand-held device into which the innumerate may input numbers and operators in order to be provided with an answer without the worry, or even a basic understanding of, the process by which it was calculated.

0
No votes yet
 

Tour Guide

Provides a safe and orderly environment for visitors.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Hungry Lion
0
No votes yet
 

Radio

To disseminate audio information across long distances.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Sound vacuum machine
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Window

An opening in a wall that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound.

Also used as an old fashioned way of disposing of bodily waste in an unhygienic way.

0
No votes yet
 

Television

An electronic communication medium that allows the viewing of transmitted real-time visual static or moving images

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Eye Patch
0
No votes yet
 

Grand National

For bookmakers to make money from.

To make horses, jockeys and trainers successful and famous.

0
No votes yet
 

Tie

A long piece of cloth worn around the neck to make one look smart.

5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Ice Pants

To uncover your legs and make them cold.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Trousers
0
No votes yet
 

Behemoth

One that is extraordinarily large and powerful.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Lilliputian
0
No votes yet
 

Sails

(Nautical) Fabric fitted to the rigging of a ship so as to convert the force of the wind into forward motion of the vessel.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Anchor
0
No votes yet
 

Zyzzyva

A tropical American weevil known to be destructive to plants.

And also the last animal in the alphabet.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Aardvark
0
No votes yet
 

soap

To clean things
The opposite would be Time.
If you leave things alone, they grow dirty by themself, even soap does.

0
No votes yet
 

Heavy Cold

An infection of the chest, nose and throat, causing an increase in mucus in the affected areas. Symptoms: whinging, lack of taste, smell and ability to register humour. Also renders the infectee repulsive on close inspection.

0
No votes yet
 

Bald Head

Something that aspirational men don't want before the age of 30 because it stops them getting girlfriends.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Porsche
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Village Idiot

A person widely known in their community for their stupidity.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
King
0
No votes yet
 

Spoon

To move liquid from bowl to mouth.

Or, to move liquid from mouth to bowl.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Spoon
0
No votes yet
 

Business Placard

A very large inconvenient way to provide associates with your contact details.

Business placards must, according to EU directives, be larger than 1.2m x 1.6m and have a wooden baton or handle extending no less than 1m from their shortest edge.

The minimum text size on a business placard is 7 cm high. The text must comprise, as a minimum:

1. Full name
2. Telephone number

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Business Card
0
No votes yet
 

Shredder

To destroy information written upon sheets of paper and aggravate tie-wearers.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Paper
0
No votes yet
 

Electric torch

To provide a portable source of light that runs on electricity - sometimes up to as much as a million candles worth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNjIEcb6-_M

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Candle
5
Average: 5 (2 votes)
 

Sausage

A sausage is a prepared food, usually made from ground and seasoned meat stuffed into a casing and cooked.

0
No votes yet
 

Glue

To fasten pieces back together again.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Knife
0
No votes yet
 

Anchor

(Nautical) An object, often made out of metal, that is used to stop a ship moving.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Sails
0
No votes yet
 

Sound vacuum machine

To extract audio information from an environment in the immediate vicinity.

The machine itself makes no noise or sucks up its own noise.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Radio
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Picture

To provide a visual representation of something.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Book
opposite: 
Braille
opposite: 
Smellovision
opposite: 
Song
opposite: 
Tonguedio
0
No votes yet
 

Ticket

An object that, if possessed, will permit entry to a venue (such as a prestigious club)

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Tie
0
No votes yet
 

Nappy

A device for catching and containing waste material excreted by infants.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Gorilla
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
 

vase

0
No votes yet
 

Door handle

To open a door.

The opposite function is to close a door, which is also performed by a door handle. Therefore, this is a prime opposite.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Door handle
0
No votes yet
 

Walking Shoes

Items of clothing worn on the feet to allow comfortable, relatively slow, self-propulsion between 2 or more points

0
No votes yet
 

Dog

A pet that takes food off you.

As typified by the Bumpus Hounds in A Christmas Story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Chicken
0
No votes yet
 

Human Body Filler

A substance used to fill holes in people's bodies.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Gun
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
 

Claw Hammer

A claw hammer is a tool primarily used for pounding nails into, or extricating nails from, some other object.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Claw Hammer
0
No votes yet
 

Volcano

A volcano is a large, solid formation of earth of typically conical shape which spews out hot, liquid rock from the center of the earth.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Blizzard
0
No votes yet
 

Storm

Storms have shaped the world as we know it today, quite literally. A storm may be the salvation of a harvest or may be responsible for wiping out a river and causes multitudes of deaths. Does that make it a prime opposite, to give life and take it away? I do not know.

0
No votes yet
 

Rubber Eraser

A solid for removing marks from paper.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Ink
0
No votes yet
 

Candle

To provide a portable source of light without using electricity.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Electric torch
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
 

Elephant

A huge and inconvenient way to store information and move it from place to place.
Although information stored is kept safe, it is not clear how it is transferred to computers due to USB incompatibility.

Users have also reported difficulty getting Elephants to fit in their macs.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
USB Memory Stick
0
No votes yet
 

Tonguedio

To provide an taste-based representation of something.

The tonguedio, a portmanteau of "Tongue" and "Radio" works by the taster sticking their face into the "Speaker" which consists of a device which injects food and drink into the mouth.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Book
opposite: 
Braille
opposite: 
Picture
opposite: 
Smellovision
opposite: 
Song
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
 

Wikipedia

To provide information for free.

Opposites identified
0
No votes yet
 

Lilliputian

A very small person or being.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Behemoth
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
 

Expenses

Money received as re-reimbursement of legitimate business activity.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Bribe
0
No votes yet
 

Remembrance Day

For people to come together for a day, in the somber act of remembering those who gave their lives for us in the field of conflict.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
April Fool's Day
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
 

Medicine

Saves lives

Opposites identified
opposite: 
A-Bomb
0
No votes yet
 

Highlighter Snow

To keep an animal cold and make it stand out in poor visibility.

Highlighter Snow is like a Highlighter Pen but made from Snow. When animals roll in it (for whatever reason) or as it falls onto them, it makes them glow bright pink.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Fur
5
Average: 5 (2 votes)
 

Trousers

To cover your legs and keep them warm.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Ice Pants
0
No votes yet
 

Hyperdermic Needle

To insert fulids. Thus the opposite would be to extract fulids namly from a person therefore the only logical opposite is indeed its self! another fine prime brought to by the creative bubble that is The Dr William J Baker institue.

0
No votes yet
 

Fox

To steal chickens.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Egg
0
No votes yet
 

Spade

Used to dig a hole

0
No votes yet
 

Braille

To provide a touch-based representation of something.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Book
opposite: 
Picture
opposite: 
Smellovision
opposite: 
Song
opposite: 
Tonguedio
0
No votes yet
 

Base

the lowest part or edge of something, esp. the part on which it rests or is supported

Opposites identified
opposite: 
abacus
0
No votes yet
 

Sprinkler

mechanical device that attaches to a garden hose for watering lawn or garden

0
No votes yet
 

dogshit

a mound of excrement produced by dogs

Opposites identified
opposite: 
catpiss
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
 

Blizzard

A blizzard is a shapeless collection floating gasses that spews cold, solid water down from the sky.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Volcano
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
 

Deodorant

A mist or gel used to make people smell nice and to prevent them from emitting foul odours.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Fart Spray
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
 

Fart Spray

A joke shop product designed to emulate the smell of human bowel gas.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Deodorant
2.5
Average: 2.5 (4 votes)
 

Jammy Dodger

Delicious biscuit with a jammy centre to enjoy with a cup of tea.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Salty Pogo-stick
0
No votes yet
 

Fire Escape

To ensure that people can safely escape building fires quickly and therefore not get burnt or suffer smoke inhailation.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Glue Shoes
0
No votes yet
 

Street Lights

To make it safe for pedestrians to walk the along pavements at night.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Drunk Drivers
0
No votes yet
 

Clock

A device to ensure that people can live their lives in an orderly and structured manner by providing them with a basis upon which they can measure the time between events.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Hallucinogenic Drugs
0
No votes yet
 

Ink

a liquid for making marks on paper.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Ink
0
No votes yet
 

wallpaper

takes hours to paste on your wall to make it look nice

0
No votes yet
 

Gorilla

A large primate that may on occasions fling poo at enemies.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Nappy
0
No votes yet
 

Water

To swallowing without chewing for survival with no lasting flavour.

1.5
Average: 1.5 (2 votes)
 

Paper

To record information in a cheap and impermanent form upon a limited writing surface.

0
No votes yet
 

Bank

A holder that is meant to be a safe place for keeping money but, recently has tended to have a track record for losing your money. Also, much too big to fit in your pocket.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Wallet
opposite: 
Sofa
0
No votes yet
 

Guide Dogs

To make it safe for blind people to perform everyday activities.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Roller Skates
opposite: 
Ear Defenders
0
No votes yet
 

Drinking Games

To make sure tables and bars get wet with beer.

See Spoof...

http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~phscz/misc/spoof.html#contributed

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Beer Mat
0
No votes yet
 

Sweet Shop

Something with scales that makes small children happy.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Reptile
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
 

Highlighter Pen

To mark text or images in order to draw attention to them.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Tipp-Ex
0
No votes yet
 

Monkey Bars

A tiring an inconvenient means of traveling across short distances, especially when combined with vertical movement (e.g. diagonal monkey bars).

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Stairs
4.5
Average: 4.5 (2 votes)
 

crap sex

a totally unstimulating experience

0
No votes yet
 

Infamy

1. Evil fame or reputation.
2. The condition of being infamous.
3. An evil or criminal act that is publicly known.

0
No votes yet
 

Sledge Hammer

To break things apart in an opaque way.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Sellotape
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
 

Tipp-Ex

To mark text or images in order to conceal them.

Assumes that the paper is the same colour as the tippex. If not, it raises the possibility of hallucinated 'chameleon Tipp-Ex'.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Highlighter Pen
0
No votes yet
 

Divorce Lawyer

Create distress through seriousness base on:

1. Meetings
2. Strict procedure
3. Well know facts
4. Ending relationships

Credit to www.oppo-site.com/users/murdoch84

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Dave Gorman
0
No votes yet
 

Crotchless Underwear

A mystery to modern man, these undergarments provide neither covering nor support. They appear to be purely for intimate decoration.

Opposites identified
opposite: 
Pyjamas
0
No votes yet
 

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