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Contradiction in terms
Answer for the clue "Contradiction in terms ", 8 letters:
oxymoron
Alternative clues for the word oxymoron
Word definitions for oxymoron in dictionaries
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect. 2 (context general English) A contradiction in terms.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1650s, from Greek oxymoron , noun use of neuter of oxymoros (adj.) "pointedly foolish," from oxys "sharp" (see acrid ) + moros "stupid" (see moron ). Rhetorical figure by which contradictory terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement or expression; ...
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Oxymoron \Ox`y*mo"ron\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ???, fr. ??? pointedly foolish; 'oxy`s sharp + mwro`s foolish.] (Rhet.) A figure in which an epithet of a contrary signification is added to a word; e. g., cruel kindness; laborious idleness.
Usage examples of oxymoron.
Gorgas fell silent, digesting the remark, which was tautology and oxymoron wrapped into one.
The less skilled, if that was not an oxymoron in the call-in psychic hotline business, quickly dropped off-line when he started talking about Interlopers that inhabited natural objects such as trees and rocks.
They had nothing to give up in the first place, for everybody else this love thy neighbor as thyself s a plain oxymoron, turned the whole country into a cradle of hypocrisy.
Looking at her for some reason made him think of an oxymoron his father used to quote when his mother was agitated about something trivial.
A government agent doing good was in his experience the most fundamental of oxymorons.
It was that there be an oxymoron strip, run by a pretty ugly stupid genius named Mistress Mann, who makes oxymorons literal.
This new voice was much higher in pitch and reedier in tone than Ralph's, did not sound even vaguely canine, and had no accent at all—Southern Florida Standard English, if that isn't an oxymoron.