opposite of? to?

[Humble]

Hi,
Please, which is correct:
1. It’s just the opposite of what I meant.
2. It’s just the opposite to what I meant.

TIA

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by Humble

Hi,
Please, which is correct:
1. It’s just the opposite of what I meant.
2. It’s just the opposite to what I meant.

TIA

They are both fine, but "opposite of" is grammatically more correct.

[Humble]

Thanks, Harry.
As I was not sure of the correctness of your answer, I searched the Net and now I know:
the opposite of
is opposite to
So #1 is correct, really.

Regards

[Harry Smith]

Originally Posted by Humble

Thanks, Harry.
As I was not sure of the correctness of your answer, I searched the Net and now I know:
the opposite of
is opposite to
So #1 is correct, really.

Regards

Sometimes it's better to pronounce the sentence to be sure if it is correct or not. Don't you think so?

[Humble]

Many of us do so, but it isn't always helpful.

[Casiopea]

In addition, there seems to be a pattern here.

'the' appears to co-occur with 'of', but not 'to':

(i) the opposite of something
(ii) opposite to something.

Ex: There is no established opposite to the word exceed, and it is quite often ...

Ex: What is the word that describes when two words that mean the opposite of each ...

[Humble]

Thank you, Cas.

[Casiopea]

You're welcome, Humble.