Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 December 19

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December 19[edit]

What is the antonym of "per se"?[edit]

What is the antonym of "per se" (by/in itself, excluding anything else)? I mean, "including anything else". --Yejianfei (talk) 11:43, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

in itself, of itself, by itself, as such, intrinsically. So, the antonym is likely extrinsically. 140.254.70.225 (talk) 14:49, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
including everything else, excluding itself. Maybe someone knowledgeable in Latin can make a translation, which can be used as an antonym for per se. 140.254.70.225 (talk) 15:03, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Extrensic is the antonym of intrinsic, but it's not a good antonym of per se.[1] I was thinking et alii, or perhaps something even more encompassing than that. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:05, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
et omnia alia might work. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:09, 19 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • As the phrase means "by/in itself" I think "in the wider context" is the actual sense opposite to per se. What high-falutin Latinate term stands for that? inter alia makes sense. μηδείς (talk) 00:32, 20 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
What's the antonym of camel ? I think Asia (If not a pie). I'm not sure if everything must have an antonym, but as far as "per se" is concerned, I think it does have an antonym, being "and likewise" (if not et cetera). HOTmag (talk) 00:36, 20 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Is camel an adjective? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:13, 20 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Sometimes. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:05, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Colors have antonyms? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:07, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Negative. That is to say, positively. See also the complementary colors. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:29, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Those are "opposites" but I don't think they qualify as "antonyms". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:33, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The colours themselves don't, but their words do. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:48, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
If you invert Tugs, he turns into Hugs. The main camel in camel turns a majestic sky blue, while the sky turns an eerie shade of camel. But yeah, the opposite of the animal is closer to Asia. InedibleHulk (talk) 06:28, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • The antonym of "per se" is not required to be a Latin phrase. A native English phrase is allowed if it is accurate enough. --Yejianfei (talk) 01:58, 20 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • I wouldn't translate per se (at least as I sometimes use it) as by itself, more like as itself. —Tamfang (talk) 07:39, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]
"In and of itself" might better fit the sense of per se as used in English. μηδείς (talk) 03:42, 22 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]