paradox
/ˈpæɹ.əˌdɑks/ noun B2- An apparently self-contradictory statement, which can only be true if it is false, and vice versa. · "This sentence is false" is a paradox.
- A counterintuitive conclusion or outcome. · It is an interesting paradox that drinking a lot of water can often make you feel thirsty.
- A claim that two apparently contradictory ideas are true. · Not having a fashion is a fashion; that's a paradox.
- A thing involving contradictory yet interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time.
- A person or thing having contradictory properties. · He is a paradox; you would not expect him in that political party.
- An unanswerable question or difficult puzzle, particularly one which leads to a deeper truth.
- The use of counterintuitive or contradictory statements (paradoxes) in speech or writing.
- A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.
Plural paradoxes
From the library
It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study.
The bad side of human thought will always be defined by the paradox of Jean Jacques Rousseau,—you remember,—the mandarin who is killed five hundred leagues off by raising the tip of the finger.
Madame de Villefort listened with avidity to these appalling maxims and horrible paradoxes, delivered by the count with that ironical simplicity which was peculiar to him.
Emigration is a peculiar endeavor, fundamentally altering one’s internal compass until the very idea of belonging becomes a delightfully ambiguous paradox.
Learn paradox in real texts
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