black sheep

Questions about black sheep

What is another word for black sheep?

It depends which black sheep you mean. In the sense “a reckless and unprincipled reprobate”, the synonyms are scapegrace. Across all 2 senses there are 1 distinct synonyms, and they are not interchangeable with each other — this page lists them under the sense each one belongs to.

What is the opposite of black sheep?

WordNet records no antonym for black sheep. Antonymy in WordNet is a relation between specific word forms rather than between concepts, so it is recorded only where lexicographers judged the pairing direct. An absence here means none was recorded, not that none can be imagined.

Why are the synonyms for black sheep split into groups?

Because black sheep carries 2 recorded senses and each has its own set of substitutes. A single flat list would put words from unrelated meanings side by side with nothing to tell them apart, which is exactly how a writer picks the wrong one. The grouping comes from WordNet's synsets, not from an editorial judgement of ours.

Where do the synonyms for black sheep come from?

From Princeton University's WordNet, a lexical database maintained by lexicographers since 1985. A synonym here means a word form that shares a synset with this word — a set of forms interchangeable in one recorded context. Nothing on this page is generated by a language model.

Other views of black sheep

• Full entry for black sheepAll 2 senses, with examples, usage labels, syllables and pronunciation.
• Rhymes for black sheepWhether this word can be rhymed at all — it is not in the pronouncing dictionary.
• Thesaurus homeHow WordNet synsets work, and the collections built for synonym work.