Business Communication
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Supportive Prefixes are prefixes that support or are for the root word.
*Pro is used with the meaning favouring/supporting as the prefix. Pro, as a prefix has other meanings
too, such as ‘in substitute of’ or ‘before in time, pace or order’.
Examples of Pro as a supportive prefix are Pro-choice, Pro-market, Pro-life.
Opposing Prefixes are prefixes that are opposed to the action denoted by the root word.
Anti (against) - antibody, antibacterial, antibiotic, anticlockwise, antidote, anti inflammatory,
antioxidant, etc.
(Spurious) - antihero, antiChrist, antiself (affected person)
Contra (against) - contraception, contraindicate, contravene, contramundum
(Contrasting) - contraflow, contra-active, contradict, contradistinction
Counter (opposition/retaliation) - counteract, counter-example, counter- attack, counterblast,
counterbalance, counterclaim, counterculture, counter-in-surgency, countermeasure,
counterproductive, etc.
Negative Prefixes are prefixes that denote the absence of distinguishing features of the root
word.
(The prefixes marked with * can convey different meaning besides those specified herein.)
*a (not, without) - amoral, ahistorical, atheist, asymmetric
*an (not, lacking) - anaesthetic, anaemic, anaerobic
*dis (not) - disloyal, disable, disarm, dishonest, distrust, disadvantage
*in (not) - injustice, inactive, inconsiderate, inconsonant, incomprehensible, incomplete,
incompetent, inconsecutive
*il (this is another variation of the prefix ‘in’ and is used before a word beginning with ‘I’) - illegal,
illiterate, illegible, illegitimate
*im (this is a variation of the prefix ‘in’ which is used before a word beginning with ‘b’, ‘m’ or ‘p’.) -
imbalance, immaterial, immeasurable, immobile, immovable, impassable, impatient, impossible,
imperfect
*ir (this too is a variation of the prefix ‘in’ which is used before a word beginning with ‘r’) -
irreplaceable, irregular, irresistible, irrational, irrecoverable, irreconcilable, irredeemable, irreducible
non (not) - non-aggressive, non-interference, nonconformist, nonentity, nonsense, nontoxic,
non-stop (notregarded as) - non-person, non-event
* These prefixes also have other meanings in which they can be used in, besides those specified
herein.
un (not) - unproductive, unacademic, unselfish, unavoidable, unaware, unbearable, unbroken,
unburnt