# oxymoron
## English
### Etymology

First attested in the 17th century, noun use of 5th century Latin oxymōrum (adj), neut. nom. form of oxymōrus (adj), 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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ɒksɪˈmɔːɹɒn/
* (US) enPR: äk-sē-môrʹ-än, äk-sĭ-môrʹ-än, IPA: /ˌɑksiˈmɔɹɑn/, /ɑksɪˈmɔɹɑn/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Noun

oxymoron (plural oxymorons or oxymora)
* (rhetoric) A figure of speech in which two words or phrases with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect.
** [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 35:In Oxymoron jarring phrases join And terms opposed in harmony combine.]
** 1996, John Sinclair, “Culture and Trade: Some Theoretical and Practical Considerations”, in Emile G. McAnany, Kenton T. Wilkinson, editors, Mass Media and Free Trade: NAFTA and the Cultural Industries, University of Texas Press:For Theodor Adorno and his colleagues at the Frankfurt School who coined the term, "culture industry" was an oxymoron, intended to set up a critical contrast between the exploitative, repetitive mode of industrial mass production under capitalism and the associations of transformative power and aesthetico-moral transcendence that the concept of culture carried in the 1940s, when it still meant "high" culture.
* (loosely, sometimes proscribed) A contradiction in terms.
** 2015 April 28, Michael Pollan, “Why ‘Natural’ Doesn’t Mean Anything Anymore”, in The New York Times Magazine‎:During the past few years, some 200 class-action suits have been filed against food manufacturers, charging them with misuse of the adjective in marketing such edible oxymorons as “natural” Cheetos Puffs, “all-natural” Sun Chips, “all-natural” Naked Juice, “100 percent all-natural” Tyson chicken nuggets and so forth.
** 2024 October 31, Matt Egan, “Trump’s former pick to join the Federal Reserve has proposed a radical solution to solve inflation”, in CNN‎:“Stable inflation is an oxymoron because it means it’s not stable,” Shelton told CNN in a recent interview.

#### Usage notes

* Historically, an oxymoron was "a paradox with a point". Its deliberate purpose was to underscore a point or to draw attention to a concealed point. The common vernacular use of oxymoron as simply a contradiction in terms is considered incorrect by some speakers and writers, and is perhaps best avoided in certain contexts.

#### Antonyms

* pleonasm, redundancy

#### Derived terms

* oxymoronic
* oxymoronically
* oxymoronicity
* oxymoronicness

#### Related terms

* moron
* oxalic
* oxy-
* paradox
* paroxysm
* sophomore

#### Translations
### See also

* Category:English oxymorons
* contranym

### References

* ↑ “oxymōrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* ↑ “ὀξύς”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* ↑ “μωρός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* ↑ “ὀξύμωρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* ↑ OED
* ↑ Jebb, Sir Richard (1900). Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

### Further reading

* Oxymoron on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “oxymoron”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* Lee’s Complete Oxymoron List, with discussion of classification (archive)

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɔk.si.mɔ.ʁɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)
* Audio (Switzerland):(file)

### Noun

oxymoron m (plural oxymorons)
* Alternative form of oxymore