paradoxical
/ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/
paradoxical · adj — having self-contradictory properties. It carries an Arena rating of 1360, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, paradoxical ranks #1,482 of 17,187 for Most Malleable Words, #4,455 of 17,163 for Most Sublime Words, #5,878 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #7,484 of 17,171 for Scariest Words.
paradoxical is pronounced /ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/.
Why “paradoxical” is a great word
Exhibiting the nature of a self-contradiction that is nevertheless, or therefore, true. From paradox (from Middle French paradoxe, from Latin paradoxum, from Greek paradoxon, 'contrary to expectation') + the adjectival suffix -ical. First attested in the 1580s. Unlike 'self-consistent' (which is harmoniously free of internal conflict) or 'self-evident' (which is immediately and plainly true), the paradoxical thrives in the friction where truth rubs against expectation. It is the silence that is more eloquent than speech, the arrow that cannot reach its target, the room that grows brighter when the lamp is extinguished—each a small, perfect engine of thought that hums by consuming its own fuel, proving that clarity flickers brightest in the exquisite tension of impossible things.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From paradox + -ical.
adj
- Having self-contradictory properties.e.g.“It is the ambiguity of language only which can make this proposition appear either doubtful or paradoxical. When properly explained and understood, it is almost self-evident.” — 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, book II, ch 2:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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