binary opposition

American  

noun

Linguistics.

1. a relation between the members of a pair of linguistic items, as a pair of distinctive features, such that one is the absence of the other, as voicelessness and voice, or that one is at the opposite pole from the other, as stridency and mellowness.

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Etymology

Origin of binary opposition

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

It would be churlish to dwell on the fact that its core ingredients are inescapably cliché, with characters representing little more than a series of stock traits in binary opposition: pragmatist/dreamer, right wing/left-wing, etc.

From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2023

We hope for new forms of liberation that don't rely on the binary opposition of heterosexual versus LGBTQAI+.

From Salon • Jul. 4, 2022

Still, turf versus grass is habitually presented as a binary opposition when the reality is more nuanced.

From The Guardian • Apr. 4, 2018

Part of the movie’s pleasure and its ethos — which wends through its visuals — is how it dispenses with familiar either/or divides, including the binary opposition that tends to shape our discourse on race.

From Slate • Feb. 6, 2018

Yet as the series evolved, this binary opposition — echoed by Dent’s rived face — has grown progressively messier, less discrete.

From New York Times • Jul. 18, 2012