oxymoron
a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”
Origin of oxymoron
1Other words from oxymoron
- ox·y·mo·ron·ic [ok-see-muh-ron-ik], /ˌɒk si məˈrɒn ɪk/, adjective
Words Nearby oxymoron
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use oxymoron in a sentence
Her own lawyer has called her a high-functioning conservatee, which conservatorship experts have noted is an oxymoron in the conservatorship system.
The Investigative Reporting Behind America’s Obsession With Britney Spears’ Conservatorship | by Robin Fields | July 13, 2021 | ProPublicaThe very notion that we should have come together was an oxymoron.
Lucinda Franks, Pulitzer-winning journalist and author, dies at 74 | Harrison Smith | May 6, 2021 | Washington PostBefore you protest that the phrase is an oxymoron, remember that we’re in the midst of a pandemic whose scope we couldn’t have imagined a little over a year ago.
Will the Pandemic Spawn a New Genre of Cult Classics? Barb and Star Suggests Yes | Stephanie Zacharek | March 6, 2021 | TimeAmong scientists, scientific certainty is an oxymoron and the bar for even approaching certainty is extremely high.
Is there really a ‘science of reading’ that tells us exactly how to teach kids to read? | Valerie Strauss | January 26, 2021 | Washington PostBeing a progressive safety first marketer shouldn’t be an oxymoron in the current climate — but it is.
As YouTube adopts new standards, the transition from brand safety to suitability is accelerating | Seb Joseph | October 22, 2020 | Digiday
British Dictionary definitions for oxymoron
/ (ˌɒksɪˈmɔːrɒn) /
rhetoric an epigrammatic effect, by which contradictory terms are used in conjunction: living death; fiend angelical
Origin of oxymoron
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for oxymoron
[ (ok-see-mawr-on) ]
A rhetorical device in which two seemingly contradictory words are used together for effect: “She is just a poor little rich girl.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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