oxymoron
nounEtymology
First attested in the 17th century, noun use of 5th century Latin oxymōrum (adjective), neut. nom. form of oxymōrus (adjective), from Ancient Greek ὀξύμωρος (oxúmōros), compound of ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp, keen, pointed”) (English oxy-, as in oxygen) + μωρός (mōrós, “dull, stupid, foolish”) (English moron (“stupid person”)). Literally "sharp-dull", "keen-stupid", or "pointed-foolish" – itself an oxymoron, hence autological; compare sophomore (literally “wise fool”), influenced by similar analysis. The compound form ὀξύμωρον (oxúmōron) is not found in the extant Ancient Greek sources.
Definitions
A figure of speech in which two words or phrases with opposing meanings are used together…
A figure of speech in which two words or phrases with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect.
- In Oxymoron jarring phrases join And terms opposed in harmony combine.
A contradiction in terms.
- “Stable inflation is an oxymoron because it means it’s not stable,” Shelton told CNN in a recent interview.
The neighborhood
- antonympleonasm
- antonymredundancy
- neighbormoron
- neighboroxalic
- neighboroxy-
- neighborparadox
- neighborparoxysm
- neighborsophomore
- neighborcontranym
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for oxymoron. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA