Oxymoron
noun
A figure of speech where two opposing ideas are joined to create an effect. The terms contradict each other.
'Bitter sweet' is an example of an oxymoron.
Often appears as...
- jumbo shrimp
- original copies
noun
A figure of speech where two opposing ideas are joined to create an effect. The terms contradict each other.
'Bitter sweet' is an example of an oxymoron.
Often appears as...
- jumbo shrimp
- original copies
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Creative Tension
Oxymorons create a surprising effect by combining contradictory words, sparking thought and interest.
The phrase 'deafening silence' uses oxymoron to emphasize the total absence of sound.
Pro Tip 2/3Literary Flavor
Writers use oxymorons to add style and depth to writing, making descriptions more vivid.
In literature, 'feather of lead' is an oxymoron that conveys a heavy weight despite a light appearance.
Pro Tip 3/3Common in Speech
People use oxymorons in everyday language without realizing, especially in colloquial expressions.
Saying 'pretty ugly' to describe something is an oxymoron commonly used in conversation.
Pro Tip 1/3Creative Tension
Oxymorons create a surprising effect by combining contradictory words, sparking thought and interest.
The phrase 'deafening silence' uses oxymoron to emphasize the total absence of sound.
Pro Tip 2/3Literary Flavor
Writers use oxymorons to add style and depth to writing, making descriptions more vivid.
In literature, 'feather of lead' is an oxymoron that conveys a heavy weight despite a light appearance.
Pro Tip 3/3Common in Speech
People use oxymorons in everyday language without realizing, especially in colloquial expressions.
Saying 'pretty ugly' to describe something is an oxymoron commonly used in conversation.
Pro Tip 1/3Creative Tension
Oxymorons create a surprising effect by combining contradictory words, sparking thought and interest.
The phrase 'deafening silence' uses oxymoron to emphasize the total absence of sound.
Pro Tip 2/3Literary Flavor
Writers use oxymorons to add style and depth to writing, making descriptions more vivid.
In literature, 'feather of lead' is an oxymoron that conveys a heavy weight despite a light appearance.
Pro Tip 3/3Common in Speech
People use oxymorons in everyday language without realizing, especially in colloquial expressions.
Saying 'pretty ugly' to describe something is an oxymoron commonly used in conversation.
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Video examples
What happens when...
It definitely sounds like an oxymoron. How can biology, something natural, be synthetic? How can something artificial be alive? Synthetic biologists sort of poke holes in that boundary that we draw between what is natural and what's technological. And every year, iGEM students from all over the world
Video examples
3 clues to understanding...
It sounds like an oxymoron. But when we were looking at the case sheets, what we found was, these people with the paralyzed phantom limbs, the original arm was paralyzed because of the peripheral nerve injury. The actual nerve supplying the arm was severed, was cut, by say, a motorcycle accident.
Video examples
The secret weapon...
We would have sped up our actions right away, because, look, that's happened with every new disease that's come into the country. So it seems like a lot of this goes back to that potential -- it's not an oxymoron, public health is everybody's job, and we need to adopt that.
Video examples
Reed Kroloff:...
What's interesting about it is not the shape. What's interesting about it is how it's made. How it's made. A brand-new way to put buildings together, something called mass customization. No, it is not an oxymoron. What makes the building expensive, in the traditional sense,
Video examples
The radical act of...
And he's been a mentor and my boss, and he's actually an inspiration behind a lot of this in the speech. And he told me that we were going to pass bipartisan criminal justice reform, and I laughed because I thought that was an oxymoron. I was in the streets --
Video examples
Apocalypse PIPE A Pastor, A...
intrigued by this idea of Apocalypse I think it deals with all of the uncertainties about life if you think about the apocalypse and if you have a perspective or or path to it there's probably a little bit of peace that you get it seems almost oxymoronic that
Video examples
How synthetic biology...
That sounds like an oxymoron at best and dangerous at worst." How can something biological, which is based on nature, also be synthetic, which implies not natural at all? Well, synthetic biology is the engineering of nature to benefit society.
Video examples
Al Gore: Alarming new...
However there is a political battle in our country. And the coal industries and the oil industries spent a quarter of a billion dollars in the last calendar year promoting clean coal, which is an oxymoron. That image reminded me of something.
Video examples
7 principles for...
you satisfy new housing demands and you make the existing neighborhoods all around it more complex, more interesting, more walkable. Here's another kind of China, high-density sprawl, what you think of as an oxymoron,
Video examples
Golan Levin makes art...
Okay. So The full videos are online if you are interested. I got a split reaction to that during the live performance, because there is some people who understand live subtitles are a kind of an oxymoron,
Video examples
What happens when...
It definitely sounds like an oxymoron. How can biology, something natural, be synthetic? How can something artificial be alive? Synthetic biologists sort of poke holes in that boundary that we draw between what is natural and what's technological. And every year, iGEM students from all over the world
Video examples
3 clues to understanding...
It sounds like an oxymoron. But when we were looking at the case sheets, what we found was, these people with the paralyzed phantom limbs, the original arm was paralyzed because of the peripheral nerve injury. The actual nerve supplying the arm was severed, was cut, by say, a motorcycle accident.
Video examples
The secret weapon...
We would have sped up our actions right away, because, look, that's happened with every new disease that's come into the country. So it seems like a lot of this goes back to that potential -- it's not an oxymoron, public health is everybody's job, and we need to adopt that.
Video examples
Reed Kroloff:...
What's interesting about it is not the shape. What's interesting about it is how it's made. How it's made. A brand-new way to put buildings together, something called mass customization. No, it is not an oxymoron. What makes the building expensive, in the traditional sense,
Video examples
The radical act of...
And he's been a mentor and my boss, and he's actually an inspiration behind a lot of this in the speech. And he told me that we were going to pass bipartisan criminal justice reform, and I laughed because I thought that was an oxymoron. I was in the streets --
Video examples
Apocalypse PIPE A Pastor, A...
intrigued by this idea of Apocalypse I think it deals with all of the uncertainties about life if you think about the apocalypse and if you have a perspective or or path to it there's probably a little bit of peace that you get it seems almost oxymoronic that
Video examples
How synthetic biology...
That sounds like an oxymoron at best and dangerous at worst." How can something biological, which is based on nature, also be synthetic, which implies not natural at all? Well, synthetic biology is the engineering of nature to benefit society.
Video examples
Al Gore: Alarming new...
However there is a political battle in our country. And the coal industries and the oil industries spent a quarter of a billion dollars in the last calendar year promoting clean coal, which is an oxymoron. That image reminded me of something.
Video examples
7 principles for...
you satisfy new housing demands and you make the existing neighborhoods all around it more complex, more interesting, more walkable. Here's another kind of China, high-density sprawl, what you think of as an oxymoron,
Video examples
Golan Levin makes art...
Okay. So The full videos are online if you are interested. I got a split reaction to that during the live performance, because there is some people who understand live subtitles are a kind of an oxymoron,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Dexter Holland
American Musician
There's something undeniably oxymoronic about a 'successful' rock n' roll band. Who wants to hear a bunch of success stories whining about their success? More importantly, what can be the drive behind a band, what can they have to rage against when they are successes? That's a dichotomy every successful band wrestles with.
Quote examples
Christian Bale
Welsh Actor
In terms of the romantic kind of lead, I just never enjoy those movies very much. Maybe they'll come to interest me more as I get older. I doubt it, but maybe. Romantic comedies tend to be, for me, an oxymoron.
Quote examples
John C. Maxwell
American Clergyman
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.
Quote examples
Wilbur Ross
American Businessman
China is the world's biggest exporter, but they're also the people with one of the highest tariffs on imports in the whole world. That seems a little bit oxymoronic.
Quote examples
Steve Eisman
American Businessman
Financial innovation is an oxymoron. It's very rare that there is something that's actually financial innovation. It's a euphemism for hiding leverage.
Quote examples
Johnny Depp
American Actor
The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Like 'Republican party' or 'airplane food.
Quote examples
Gail Sheehy
American Writer
Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath.
Quote examples
Vermin Supreme
American Artist
My personal view of the anarch-capitalists is that it's an oxymoron.
Quote examples
Sanam Saeed
Pakistani Actress
I am an oxymoron, shy and confident at the same time.
Quote examples
Harold Bloom
American Critic
I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.
Quote examples
Dexter Holland
American Musician
There's something undeniably oxymoronic about a 'successful' rock n' roll band. Who wants to hear a bunch of success stories whining about their success? More importantly, what can be the drive behind a band, what can they have to rage against when they are successes? That's a dichotomy every successful band wrestles with.
Quote examples
Christian Bale
Welsh Actor
In terms of the romantic kind of lead, I just never enjoy those movies very much. Maybe they'll come to interest me more as I get older. I doubt it, but maybe. Romantic comedies tend to be, for me, an oxymoron.
Quote examples
John C. Maxwell
American Clergyman
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.
Quote examples
Wilbur Ross
American Businessman
China is the world's biggest exporter, but they're also the people with one of the highest tariffs on imports in the whole world. That seems a little bit oxymoronic.
Quote examples
Steve Eisman
American Businessman
Financial innovation is an oxymoron. It's very rare that there is something that's actually financial innovation. It's a euphemism for hiding leverage.
Quote examples
Johnny Depp
American Actor
The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Like 'Republican party' or 'airplane food.
Quote examples
Gail Sheehy
American Writer
Sex and older women used to be considered an oxymoron, rarely mentioned in the same breath.
Quote examples
Vermin Supreme
American Artist
My personal view of the anarch-capitalists is that it's an oxymoron.
Quote examples
Sanam Saeed
Pakistani Actress
I am an oxymoron, shy and confident at the same time.
Quote examples
Harold Bloom
American Critic
I take it that a successful therapy is an oxymoron.
Example 1 of 10
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