Minimal difference The solution„ on the contrary, is not how different the words are but how similar they are. Fotinstance, hot/cold makes a better antonym pair than hot/cool because the. senses of hot and cold are more 'similar to each other than the senses of hot and cool are-. Antonymy is a relation between two lexemes that share all relevant properties except for one that causes them to 'be incompatible. This is tci say that the meanings' of antonyms are minimally different (Clark 1970). Hot/cold fits this definition better than hot/cool, since hot and cold have hi common 'that they are both perceptions of temperature, and both are extremes on the temperature scale. They are different in that they are on opposite ends of the temperature scale. Hot and coot are both temperatures, but differ in both which side of the temperature scale they are on and whether or not they are extreme. As •the basic componential analysis in (15) shows, hot and cool are less similar to each other than hot and cold are.