paradox means an apparently self-contradictory statement, which can only be true if it is false, and vice versa.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, paradox ranks #2,350 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words.
paradox is pronounced /ˈpæ.ɹəˌdɒks/.
Why “paradox” is a great word
A statement or situation that, despite apparently sound reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems logically unacceptable or self-contradictory. From the Ancient Greek παράδοξος (parádoxos, "unexpected, contrary to opinion"), from παρά (pará, "contrary to") and δόξα (dóxa, "opinion, expectation"). Unlike a contradiction, which presents a flat opposition where one side must be false, or a dilemma, which demands a fraught choice, a paradox holds its opposing truths in a single, unsettling tension. It is the liar who swears he is lying, the arrow that can never reach its target, and the library that catalogs all books that do not catalog themselves—a logical knot that tightens the more you pull, revealing that the mind’s neatest categories are sometimes cages.
Etymology
From Middle French paradoxe, from Latin paradoxum, from Ancient Greek παράδοξος (parádoxos, “unexpected, strange”).
noun
- 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.“And only by dismantling our preconceptions of age can we be free to understand the paradox: How young are the old?”
- A statement which is difficult to believe, or which goes against general belief.“Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner / transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the / force of honesty can translate beauty into his / likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the / time gives it proof.”
- The use of counterintuitive or contradictory statements (paradoxes) in speech or writing.“The need for paradox is no doubt rooted deep in the very nature of the use we make of language.”
- A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.“Thus, like modern disputants, they aimed either to confute the respondent or to land him in paradox.”
- The practice of giving instructions that are opposed to the therapist's actual intent, with the intention that the client will disobey or be unable to obey.“Defiance-based paradox is employed so that the family will actively oppose and deliberately sabotage the prescription.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- aporia 88% match — An expression of deliberation with oneself regarding uncertainty or doubt as to how to proceed. vs paradox →
- oxymoron 87% match — A figure of speech in which two words or phrases with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect. vs paradox →
- dialetheia 87% match — A statement that is both true and false; a true contradiction. vs paradox →
- enigma 86% match — Something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable. vs paradox →
- paralogism 86% match — A fallacious argument or illogical conclusion, especially one committed by mistake, or believed by the speaker to be logical. vs paradox →
- withsaw 85% match — A contradiction. vs paradox →
- axiom 85% match — A seemingly self-evident or necessary truth which is based on assumption; a principle or proposition which cannot actually be proved or disproved. vs paradox →
- antithet 85% match — An antithetical or contrasted statement. vs paradox →