[an.tith.e.sis] n, pl -e.ses [LL, fr. Gk, lit., opposition, fr. antitithenai to oppose, fr. anti- + tithenai to set--more at do] (1529) 1 a (1): the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (as in "action, not words" or "they promised freedom and provided slavery") (2): opposition, contrast "the ~ of prose and verse" b (1): the second of two opposing constituents of an antithesis (2): the direct opposite
2: the second stage of a dialectic process