oxymoron
24
7.2
- noun
- /ˌɑk.sɪˈmɔː.rɒn/
- Literature
:
oxímoron
- The term 'bittersweet' is often cited as an oxymoron because it describes something having both happy and sad emotions.
- trope of oxymoron
- almost an oxymoron
- narrative oxymoron
So like this very smart PR person, it's not an oxymoron.
- So like this very smart PR person, it's not an oxymoron.
- It just doesn't make sense, but it's an oxymoron.
- Governor Moore sells himself as a progressive patriot, which feels like an oxymoron.
- I think it takes courage to be a stylish academic writer, to push on that oxymoron.
- Some of these oxymorons we might be able to think of heavy lightness and coal fire.
- So I can see there's the oxymoron of the situation.
- Also sounds very sounds like an oxymoron, right?
- But then they're really solemn Acrobat, very serious Acrobat, which is essentially oxymoron.
Examples
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It's an oxymoron, like "happily dead."
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Mass customization, a seeming oxymoron, is the tailoring of formerly mass-produced goods to suit individual preference.
Academic text (2000) -
"Gorgeous dentist" is an oxymoron.
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The phrase "collective selfhood" would seem to be an oxymoron, but it is not.
Academic text (2003) -
The idea of honorable war, an oxymoron if there ever was one, went out in WWI.
Blog text (11) -
Most critics agree that magical realism is an oxymoron combining natural and supernatural categories of reality.
Academic text (1999) -
If, like butcher shops, taverns are a man's domain, a salad bar is an oxymoron.
Academic text (2000) -
I've been experimenting with the diet ice creams because that's an oxymoron, you know that, right?
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An example of an oxymoron is the phrase 'deafening silence', which combines contradictory ideas.
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Saying 'jumbo shrimp' is a classic example of an oxymoron, as it juxtaposes size with a small creature.
Synonyms
6
6.8
A statement that says two things that cannot both be true
How Contradictory
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Oxymoron comes from Greek parts oxy 'sharp' and moron 'dull' or 'foolish'. So an oxymoron is like a 'sharp-dull' mix and names a phrase that joins opposite ideas, like 'deafening silence' or 'bittersweet'.