Oxymoron
Encyclopedia
An oxymoron (from Greek ὀξύμωρον, "sharp dull") is a figure of speech
that combines contradictory terms. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox
.
-noun
combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson
's Idylls of the King
contains two oxymora:
Other examples of oxymora of this kind are:
Less often seen are noun-verb
combinations of two words, such as the line"The silence whistles" from Nathan Alterman
's Summer Night, or in a record album title like Sounds of Silence
.
Oxymorons are not always a pair of words; they can also be devised in the meaning
of sentences or phrases.
"oxymoron", which is derived from the Ancient Greek
"ὀξύς" (oxus, sharp) + "μωρός" (mōros, dull). The Greek
"ὀξύμωρον" (oxumōron) is not found in the extant Greek sources, according to the Oxford English Dictionary
.
assembled a taxonomy of oxymorons in an article in Word Ways in 1990, running from single-word oxymorons such as "pianoforte" (literally, "soft-loud") through "doublespeak
oxymora" (deliberately intended to confuse) and "opinion oxymora" (editorial opinions designed to provoke a laugh). In general, oxymorons can be divided into expressions that were deliberately crafted to be contradictory and those phrases that inadvertently or incidentally contain a contradiction, often as a result of a pun
ning use of one or both words.
, virtual reality
, constant variable
, and living dead
.
There are also examples in which terms that are superficially contradictory are juxtaposed in such a way that there is no contradiction. Examples include same difference, jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, and hot ice (where hot means stolen and ice means diamonds, respectively, in criminal argot
).
's poem The Send-off refers to soldiers leaving for the front line, who "lined the train with faces grimly gay." The oxymoron grimly gay highlights the contradiction between how the soldiers feel and how they act: though they put on a brave face and act cheerful, they feel grim.
One case where many oxymorons are strung together can be found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
, where Romeo declares:
Some paradoxical oxymorons become cliché
s:
has argued that modern usage has brought a common misunderstanding that oxymoron is nearly synonymous with contradiction. The introduction of this usage, the opposite of its true meaning, has been credited to William F. Buckley.
Sometimes a pair of terms is claimed to be an oxymoron by those who hold the opinion that the two are mutually exclusive. That is, although there is no inherent contradiction between the terms, the speaker expresses the opinion that the two terms imply properties or characteristics that cannot occur together. Such claims may be made purely for humorous effect; many examples, such as military intelligence, freedom fighters, business ethics were popularized by comedian George Carlin
. Another example is the term civil war, which is not an oxymoron, but can be claimed to be so for humorous effect, if civil is construed as meaning polite rather than between citizens of the same state. Alternatively, such claims may reflect a genuinely held opinion or ideological position. Well-known examples include claims made against "government worker", "honest broker", "educational television," "Microsoft Works
" and "working from home".
discusses and gives examples of visual oxymorons. He writes:
"In the visual version of oxymoron, the material of which a thing is made (or appears to be made) takes the place of the adjective, and the thing itself (or thing represented) takes the place of the noun." The book is currently out of print, but while it remains so is available to download.
Examples include waves in the sand, a fossil tree and topiary representing something solid like an ocean liner. Hughes lists further examples of oxymoronic objects including:
Figure of speech
A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...
that combines contradictory terms. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
.
Types
The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjectiveAdjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
-noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
's Idylls of the King
Idylls of the King
Idylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...
contains two oxymora:
Other examples of oxymora of this kind are:
- Dark lightDark LightDark Light is Finnish rock band HIM's fifth full length album. This album was released on 26 September 2005 internationally and on 27 September 2005 in the USA with a limited edition pre-release of 20,000 some days before...
- Living deadUndeadUndead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
- New Classic
- Old NewsOld NewsOld News is a tabloid-format newspaper containing original articles on ancient history and modern history, written in a popular style. It is published six times a year by Susquehanna Times & Magazine, Inc., of Landisville, Pennsylvania....
- Open secretOpen secretAn open secret is a concept or idea that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned are willing to categorically acknowledge in public.Examples of...
(supposedly a secret but it has leaked) - Vintage Modern
Less often seen are noun-verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
combinations of two words, such as the line"The silence whistles" from Nathan Alterman
Nathan Alterman
Nathan Alterman was an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator who – though never holding any elected office – was highly influential in Socialist Zionist politics, both before and after the establishment of the State of Israel.-Biography:...
's Summer Night, or in a record album title like Sounds of Silence
Sounds of Silence (album)
Sounds of Silence is the second album by Simon and Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, "The Sound of Silence", which originally was released as "The Sounds of Silence"...
.
Oxymorons are not always a pair of words; they can also be devised in the meaning
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
of sentences or phrases.
Etymology
Oxymoron is derived from the 5th century LatinLatin
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...
"oxymoron", which is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
"ὀξύς" (oxus, sharp) + "μωρός" (mōros, dull). The Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"ὀξύμωρον" (oxumōron) is not found in the extant Greek sources, according to the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
.
Taxonomy
Richard LedererRichard Lederer
Richard Lederer is an American author, speaker, and teacher best known for his books on word play and the English language and his use of oxymorons...
assembled a taxonomy of oxymorons in an article in Word Ways in 1990, running from single-word oxymorons such as "pianoforte" (literally, "soft-loud") through "doublespeak
Doublespeak
Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms , making the truth less unpleasant, without denying its nature. It may also be deployed as intentional ambiguity, or reversal of meaning...
oxymora" (deliberately intended to confuse) and "opinion oxymora" (editorial opinions designed to provoke a laugh). In general, oxymorons can be divided into expressions that were deliberately crafted to be contradictory and those phrases that inadvertently or incidentally contain a contradiction, often as a result of a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
ning use of one or both words.
Inadvertent oxymorons
Oxymorons are sometimes inadvertently created by errors or sloppiness in conversation; common examples include extremely average, objective opinion, and instant classic. In some cases an inadvertent oxymoron ends up being widely adopted as the name for some concept and ceases to be recognised as an oxymoron. Cases where this has occurred include bittersweetBittersweet
-Biology:*A vine in the nightshade family, Solanum dulcamara*Some species of vines in the genus Celastrus, including American bittersweet and Oriental bittersweet -Biology:*A vine in the nightshade family, Solanum dulcamara*Some species of vines in the genus Celastrus, including American...
, virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
, constant variable
Constant (programming)
In computer programming, a constant is an identifier whose associated value cannot typically be altered by the program during its execution...
, and living dead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
.
Apparent oxymorons
Many oxymorons have been popularised in vernacular speech. Unlike literary oxymorons, many of these are not intended to construct a paradox; they are simply puns. Examples include controlled chaos, open secret, organized mess, alone in a crowd, and accidentally on purpose.There are also examples in which terms that are superficially contradictory are juxtaposed in such a way that there is no contradiction. Examples include same difference, jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, and hot ice (where hot means stolen and ice means diamonds, respectively, in criminal argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
).
Oxymorons as paradoxes
Writers often use an oxymoron to call attention to an apparent contradiction. For example, Wilfred OwenWilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...
's poem The Send-off refers to soldiers leaving for the front line, who "lined the train with faces grimly gay." The oxymoron grimly gay highlights the contradiction between how the soldiers feel and how they act: though they put on a brave face and act cheerful, they feel grim.
One case where many oxymorons are strung together can be found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, where Romeo declares:
Some paradoxical oxymorons become cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s:
- Irregular pattern
- Bitter sweet
- Deafening silence
- Forward retreat
- Noisy silence
- Quiet riotQuiet Riot (disambiguation)Quiet Riot was an American heavy metal band.Quiet Riot may also refer to:*Quiet Riot , an album by Quiet Riot*Quiet Riot , an album by Quiet Riot...
- Serious joke
- Silent ScreamSilent ScreamSilent Scream may refer to:In film:*The Silent Scream, a 1984 documentary about abortion*Silent Scream , a horror film*Silent Scream , a biographical film about murderer Larry Winters...
- Sweet sorrow
Terms falsely called oxymorons for rhetorical effect
Although a true oxymoron is "something that is surprisingly true, a paradox," Garry WillsGarry Wills
Garry Wills is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and prolific author, journalist, and historian, specializing in American politics, American political history and ideology and the Roman Catholic Church. Classically trained at a Jesuit high school and two universities, he is proficient in Greek and Latin...
has argued that modern usage has brought a common misunderstanding that oxymoron is nearly synonymous with contradiction. The introduction of this usage, the opposite of its true meaning, has been credited to William F. Buckley.
Sometimes a pair of terms is claimed to be an oxymoron by those who hold the opinion that the two are mutually exclusive. That is, although there is no inherent contradiction between the terms, the speaker expresses the opinion that the two terms imply properties or characteristics that cannot occur together. Such claims may be made purely for humorous effect; many examples, such as military intelligence, freedom fighters, business ethics were popularized by comedian George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
. Another example is the term civil war, which is not an oxymoron, but can be claimed to be so for humorous effect, if civil is construed as meaning polite rather than between citizens of the same state. Alternatively, such claims may reflect a genuinely held opinion or ideological position. Well-known examples include claims made against "government worker", "honest broker", "educational television," "Microsoft Works
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Works is an integrated package software that is produced by Microsoft. Works is smaller, less expensive, and has fewer features than Microsoft Office or other major office suites. Its core functionality includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system...
" and "working from home".
Visual and physical oxymorons
In his book More on Oxymoron, the artist Patrick HughesPatrick Hughes (artist)
Patrick Hughes is a British artist working in London. He is the creator of "reverspective", an optical illusion on a 3-dimensional surface where the parts of the picture which seem farthest away are actually physically the nearest....
discusses and gives examples of visual oxymorons. He writes:
"In the visual version of oxymoron, the material of which a thing is made (or appears to be made) takes the place of the adjective, and the thing itself (or thing represented) takes the place of the noun." The book is currently out of print, but while it remains so is available to download.
Examples include waves in the sand, a fossil tree and topiary representing something solid like an ocean liner. Hughes lists further examples of oxymoronic objects including:
- Plastic lemons
- Electric candles
- Rubber bones for dogs
- Floating soap
- China eggs to persuade hens to lay
- Solid water (ice)
- Bricked-up windows
- Artificial grass
- Wax fruit
- Invisible ink
- Joke rubber coat hooks
- Solid wooden bottle moulds
See also
- ParadoxParadoxSimilar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
- IronyIronyIrony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
- SarcasmSarcasmSarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
- Colorless green ideas sleep furiouslyColorless green ideas sleep furiously"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in his 1957 Syntactic Structures as an example of a sentence that is grammatically correct but semantically nonsensical. The term was originally used in his 1955 thesis "Logical Structures of Linguistic Theory"...
- Contradictio in terminisContradictio in terminisContradictio in terminis refers to a combination of words whose meanings are in conflict with one another. Examples are "liquid ice" or "square circle"....
- Performative contradictionPerformative contradictionA performative contradiction arises when the propositional content of a statement contradicts the presuppositions of asserting it. An example of a performative contradiction is the statement "this statement can't be asserted" because the very act of asserting it presupposes it can be...
- PleonasmPleonasmPleonasm is the use of more words or word-parts than is necessary for clear expression: examples are black darkness, or burning fire...
and tautologyTautologyTautology may refer to:*Tautology , using different words to say the same thing even if the repetition does not provide clarity. Tautology also means a series of self-reinforcing statements that cannot be disproved because the statements depend on the assumption that they are already... - Self refuting idea
- Wooden ironWooden ironWooden iron is a polemical term often used in philosophical rhetoric to describe the impossibility of an opposing argument. The term is a German proverbial oxymoron, which synthesizes the concept of the "wooden", which is organic, with the concept of "iron" which is inorganic...
- RetronymRetronymA retronym is a type of neologism that provides a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...
(some retronyms form oxymorons). - KaiserschmarrnKaiserschmarrnKaiserschmarrn is one of the best known Austrian desserts, popular in the former Austria–Hungary as well as in Bavaria....