Contradictio in adjecto
Encyclopedia
Contradictio in adjecto is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 "a contradiction in itself" or a "contradiction in terms". It is "the characteristic that is denoted by the adjective stands in contrast to the noun." It is a kind of oxymoron
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms...

, for example, "There was a deafening silence in the room."
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK