Night of the Living Dead: 1968 film. For even more examples of oxymorons in sentences, take a look at these examples of funny oxymoron quotes. As a literary device, oxymoron has the effect of creating an impression, enhancing a concept, and even entertaining the reader. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced searchad free! Twitter - Facebook This example is similar to the lines above from Romeo and Juliet, in that both use the contradictory terms of an oxymoron to reflect the characters' experience of thwarted love. The phrase "cruel kindness" is an oxymoron. A common oxymoron example is "bittersweet"the two root words, bitter and sweet, are inherently contradictory. The couple's relationship becomes a bright spot for both of them in the midst of war, but ultimately also a source of pain and confusion for Jordan, as he struggles to balance his obligation to fight with his desire to live happily by Maria's side. Remember, not all synonyms are suitable replacements in all contexts. Nabokov's novel Ada tells the story of Van and Ada, a sister and brother who meet as teenagers and fall in love, believing that they are cousins. Get a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 Lit Terms we cover. Browse 110 oxymoron stock photos and images available, or search for contradiction or irony to find more great stock photos and pictures. Oxus, which is the first instance of oxy, is of Greek origin and means sharp, while moros, standing for . They can enhance writing and communication in a variety of ways, including by adding dramatic effect. Some people mistake pairs of antonyms for oxymorons, but they are not the same. tautology, noun : needless or meaningless repetition in close succession of an idea, statement, or word. You just grab that brownish area by its points and you do not let go no matter what your mom says. However, oxymorons aren't always so serious. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. "A terrible beauty is born," - from Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats. [Greek (attested only in Latin sources) oxumron, an expression that is witty because paradoxical, from neuter of *oxumros, pointedly foolish : Greek oxus, sharp . 'Oxymoron' is the singular form, and 'Oxymora' (or 'Oxymorons') is the plural form. LitCharts Teacher Editions. An oxymoron is a figure of speech that pairs two opposite words together. Oxymoron brings two words with contradictory meanings together, the end result of which is a phrase that is inadvertently funny (in most cases). This first example is from the play's opening scene and it is part of a charm chanted by witches: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. The word "oxymoron" is itself oxymoronic, which is to say contradictory. This is especially achieved if the word pairing reveals intensity or a great difference in quality. However, liar has negative connotations, as in someone who is untruthful or deceptive. 100 Examples of Oxymorons . "pointedly foolish," from oxys "sharp, pointed" (from PIE root *ak-"be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce") + mros "stupid" (see moron).The word itself is an illustration of the thing. While an oxymoron is a figure of speech that pairs two opposing words. Such a phrase shows that an object can have two different qualities at once, making it a subject for study and analysis. This phrase qualifies as an oxymoron because the words "same" and "difference" have opposite meanings. Analyzes words to predict audience familiarity and provide insights as to how the use of the word may affect readability metrics. Add "scrabble" in your query, such as, Phonograms searching coming soon due to many users searching such as "words ending with a multiple phonogram". Also, this oxymoron is ironic in the context of a poem in which a funeral is the subject. FAQs on Oxymoron. Let me know what word list you could not find, and I'll be sure to get it fixed up for you. - Contact Us - Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions, Definition and Examples of Literary Terms, Little Bighorn Battlefield (national monument in Montana), CatDog (American animated television series), Big Little Lies (book by Liane Moriarty, adapted into television series for HBO), Quotes from a Devout Atheist (compilation book of Richard Dawkins quotes), Waking Dream (American documentary film), You cant have more types of fake news than real news. (Elon Musk), Im nobody! The word "oxymoron" is itself an oxymoron. Similar to an oxymoron, a paradox combines two contradictory ideas in a way that, although illogical, still seems to make sense. They have an inverted moral code that values "the foul" and dislikes "the fair." "Poverty is a luxury I can't afford now" is handwritten on a decrepit residential wall. For most words, familiarity with said word is independent of count (e.g. Shakespeare was a master of using oxymoron in his plays and poems. In this creative writing activity, students will put their figurative language skills to the test as they craft a story using some catchy contradictory phrases! Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Vocabulary /. However, a bone may seem juicy to a dog that is salivating at the thought of chewing it. Oxymoron is made up of two words that are Greek to me. Although they have the same purpose in mind, they are used differently in terms of sentence structure and presentation. This figure of speech is clever in that utilizing the word real to describe something that is fake actually lends a sense of truth and authenticity to something that is, by nature, untrue and inauthentic. I mean, this is an oxymoron, there's nothing free about the speech today. Popular @ EnglishClub: Oxymoron examples in pop culture. The adjective for this word is oxymoronic and the adverb oxymoronically. "a long brief" or "hot ice". oxymoron, a word or group of words that is self-contradicting, as in bittersweet or plastic glass. Effective use of juxtaposition can change the tone of an entire poem. Send us feedback. Feb 2. Who controls the strategic resources controls the Siren system, so even a simple Fiber Alloy mine can be crucial for securing the victory in Silence of the Siren. Real fake is a combination of contradictory terms. Scrabble point value for oxymoron: 20 points. I have passed with a nod of the head. "A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.". Oxymoron is a figure of speech pairing two words together that are opposing and/or contradictory. Instant PDF downloads. Refine any search. Examples of Oxymorons in Sentences Oxymorons aren't limited to the first few letters of the alphabet. In some rare cases, however, a common word may have multiple meanings including a meaning so infrequent it is not well known. deafening silence. This would provide a list of words with letters in a specific order, such as the consonants in the order of ntr. Learn how to use the easiest words finder here. (2021, February 16). An oxymoron is a rhetorical device in which seemingly contradictory or incongruous terms appear in conjunction with each other. Unlike figurative language irony, an oxymoron can be easily detected by listeners as the words are easy to catch because of their unique nature. "Parting is such sweet sorrow ." Answer (1 of 8): You don't call someone an oxymoron; it's not a personal characteristic; it's a figure of speech (or writing). The word "oxymoron" is derived from Greek a combination of oxy- meaning keen or sharp and -mrs meaning dull or foolish. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Single word searches bring you to the word page. We found a total of 35 words by unscrambling the letters in oxymoron. 'Hiemal,' 'brumation,' & other rare wintry words. . The oxymoron is a figure of speech that adds depth and technique to literary works. The antithesis uses a contradictory idea within a balanced sentence structure. Here's one more example from Romeo and Juliet. All rights reserved. 12. Plural and singular words with information and example sentences. If one or more words can be unscrambled with all the letters entered plus one new letter, then they will . Barking is a word that indicates sound. Check out the oxymoron definition. The word oxymoron is an oxymoron; 'oxy' comes from the Greek word that means 'sharp', while 'moron' comes from the Greek word that means 'dull'. sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. Here are some well-known and recognizable examples of this figure of speech: People are often confused by the difference between oxymoron and paradox. I want to receive exclusive email updates from YourDictionary. ra (-mr) A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist. Science fiction, magical realism, and historical fiction are all oxymoronic. Worksheet. Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia, M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester, B.A., English, State University of New York. Therefore, oxymorons are not necessarily mistakes or errors. paradox / oxymoron. This means that oxymoron is a figure of speech that includes just a couple of contradictory words that are paired together rather than a full statement of ideas. For some real-world examples of oxymorons in writing, review a few lines from literature and songs. Yes! These phrases combine to create a whole new concept. These word pairings are not inherently opposite, but their individual concepts can seem contradictory when combined. An oxymoron is a combination of two words that, together, express a contradictory meaning. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. This contradiction is also known as aparadox. When you're ready to graduate from oxymorons to symbolism, enjoy these examples of symbolism in literature. A paradox is a logical puzzle that seems to contradict itself. But once you become fluent in English, it's easy to recognize such oxymorons for the figures of speech that they are. Are you interested in learning Japanese while improving your English with You Go Words!? From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. oxymoron. Perfect if you enjoy the oxymoron of a synonym being an antonym. The following example is from Alexander Pope's poem, "Essay on Criticism": The bookful blockhead ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head, With his own tongue still edifies his ears, And always listning to himself appears. Some typical oxymorons are: a living death. Therefore, Salinger cleverly calls into question Holdens reliability as a narrator through just this figure of speech. Oxymoron. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oxymoron. Dec 17, 2020 at 0:28. It's also helpful to understand the relationship between oxymoron and paradox. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The "nakedly dressed" oxymoron immediately follows the description of Ada's drawings, in which she combines together unlikely species: just as oxymorons conjoin unlikely words and ideas. The word 'Oxymoron' is originally derived from the Greek elements: oxy = sharp and moros (moron) = dull (foolish). We see that two things that shouldn't exist together do, in fact . An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Terrific has positive connotations, as in wonderful or extraordinarily great. He gave me a. Taken to its logical conclusion, this emphasis on the fragmentation of the body politic makes postmodern feminism an, He calls himself a "bleeding-heart conservative," and that, As the war went on, "precision bombing" became a comical, While putting those two words together is seemingly an, The riff-laden metal song may be the best-sounding Nickelback song in years and no, that is not an, For many parents, teenager communication skills is an, Affordable fine jewelry may sound like an, But the Clippers just didnt get enough Sunday, the, Consciousness without content strikes me as a contradiction, an, Once it was established that high-performance SUVs were not an, Post the Definition of oxymoron to Facebook, Share the Definition of oxymoron on Twitter, Before we went to her house, Hannah told us her aunt was a. Oxymoron. For example, oxymoron phrases such as marital bliss, military intelligence,andbusiness ethics,depending on how they are used as figures of speech, can be effective literary devices to indicate irony. Some of the greatest truths lie in contradiction, and oxymoron is one of the best figures of speech for expressing contradiction. A common oxymoron is the phrase "the same difference." Root word search. Instead, they want to be witty and show they can use words to make people laugh. Oxymoron is a figure of speech pairing two words together that are opposing and/or contradictory. Google answer: MORON is (obsolete) a person of borderline intelligence in the former classification of mental retardation, having of an intelligence quotient of 50-69 while OXYMORON is a figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect. The fascinating story behind many people's favori Can you handle the (barometric) pressure? 4 Answers. The word oxymoron itself is an oxymoron! Ans: The figures of speech are as follows. Nordquist, Richard. Alternative spelling of words from American English to British English. Too many uses of oxymoron can be either distracting or tedious for the reader. Like a paradox, an oxymoron is what's known as a "contradiction in terms," although oxymorons and paradoxes are two different things, as explained below. The contradiction contained in "nakedly dressed" echoes the impossibility of the hybrids Ada draws, and more importantly, it expresses both Van's feeling that he can see into her soul despite the clothes covering her body, his yearning for her such that her clothes only suggest to him her body beneath them, and at the same time (because it's an oxymoron and the words contradict) the impossibility of the siblings' relationship. Word lists are in the order of the most common words and most searched. Seeing these oxymoron examples used in the context of sentences may provide a better idea of how and why they're used. Seperate words by area of focus. Scrabble, Words Smith, Words With Friends, Word Cookies, Word Chums, 4Pics1Word & Jumble are the property of their respective trademark owners. pronounced: ox-ee-MOR-on | plural: oxymora, oxymorons. With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific, Too much of one sort would be soporific;. The meaning of OXYMORON is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as cruel kindness); broadly : something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements. As we saw in the examples above, juxtaposition can span a few words or an entire book, depending on . That I shall say good night till it be morrow. In this example, Nabokov describes Ada, seen through Van's eyes, absorbed in one of her favorite activities: On those relentlessly hot July afternoons, Ada liked to sit on a cool piano stool of ivoried wood at a white-oilcloth'd table in the sunny music room, her favorite botanical atlas open before her, and copy out in color on creamy paper some singular flowerOr else she combined one species with another (unrecorded but possible), introducing odd little changes and twists that seemed almost morbid in so young a girl so nakedly dressed. Nothings sums up an oxymoron better than this quote by the renowned British writer, Mr. Gibbons. Seriously funny Same difference Jumbo shrimp Rolling stop. Delivered to your inbox! Frequently Asked Questions About oxymoron. The best way to make money is to spend money. The word is derived from two ancient Greek words: oxys, which means "sharp," and moronos, which means "dull" or "stupid." One example of a paradox is the following conflicting idea. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. An oxymoron is a figure of speech made up of words with very different meanings. Interested in readability? If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. A general meaning of "contradiction in terms" is recorded by the 1902 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. 1. The following lines refer to Lancelot, who is in love with Guinevere, King Arthur's wife. When we think of oxymorons, we often think of two-word phrases with seemingly opposite components, like "alone together" or "sweet sorrow."But in some instances, a single word is all it takes. Well . Get this guide to Oxymoron as an easy-to-print PDF. Yet, original copy as an oxymoron commonly and figuratively means that the content of the copy is original. Paul Fussell. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. 12 Basic Tenses Oxymoron is often confused with other related terms, such as "contradiction in terms," "paradox," and "antonym." A true oxymoron must be deliberately crafted in advance, with the goal of creating a rhetorical effect or revealing a deeper figurative meaning. Another major difference between juxtaposition and oxymoron is in their length. Oxymoron Examples in Literature and Songs. For example, if a character receives apainful smile,this creates a significant dramatic effect. Determining Word Rank The word rank metric is a measure of word frequency, with frequent words corresponding to higher ranks. Together, these words indicate that Holden takes pride in how adept he is at lyinga behavior that is generally associated with indignity. Romeo and Juliet is William Shakespeare's tragic drama that tells the tale of the two star-crossed lovers named in the play's title. ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/awfully-good-examples-of-oxymorons-1691814. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. This cascade of oxymorons, placed one after the other, heightens the contrast between Romeo's idea of love and what he's actually experiencing. Oxymorons in Romeo and Juliet. In both examples, the oxymoron joins opposite ideas to make a point (such as that an awkward silence can have a presence comparable to a loud sound). The analyzer then shows synonyms and related words your audience may be more familiar with. "All your perfect imperfections " - from All of Me by John Legend. Like. Parts of Speech Quiz, Search - Home - AboutPrivacy - Terms - Contact - Permissions The Readability Analyzer can analyze a passage of text and tell you the relative ease in which an entire passage of text can be read and understood by others. What is the difference between oxymoron and paradox? Oxymoron. Here are some examples of oxymoron phrases in well-known literary works, along with how they add to interpretation: Good night, good night! Late Greek oxymron, from neuter of oxymros pointedly foolish, from Greek oxys sharp, keen + mros foolish. However, the terms are also complementary as a pair. A paradox is a rhetorical device or a self-contradictory statement that can actually be true. Does moron come from oxymoron? Words with Friends point value for oxymoron: 20 points. There are several examples in Romeo and Juliet, like the following quotes. Oxymoron is a 8 letter word, used as a noun, with Latin origins, and has the letters mnooorxy (mnorxy). For example, someone might (wrongly) call the phrase "business ethics" an oxymoron, simply to make the claim that business is always unethical. Oxymorons can add color, humor, and meaning to language in all sorts of ways. But oxymorons can also occur over the course of a clause or sentence, as in "That silence after your joke was deafening." William Shakespeare was known to sprinkle them throughout his plays, poems, and sonnets. Conversation Starters However, in popular usage oxymoron is sometimes used to mean "contradiction in terms", where the contradiction is unintentional. Like other kinds of figurative language, oxymorons (or oxymora) are often found in literature. Words that really are opposite to . In speech, oxymorons can lend a sense of humor, irony, or sarcasm. This contradiction is also known as a paradox. In turn, if something is acopy,then it is not original. For some of these examples, the oxymorons are linked to two phrases within the sentence rather than a single phrase. Im the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. Words that are antonyms have opposite meanings from one another. Learn a new word every day. As shown by this list of 100 awfully good examples, oxymorons are also part of our everyday speech. For example, if a character is described as a man child, this oxymoron calls up a humorous image of a child that looks like a man or vice-versa. Writers and poets have used it for centuries as a literary device to describe life's inherent conflicts and incongruities. The pairing of contradictory terms grabs attention, generates surprise, and creates an impression. An oxymoron uses two contrasting words, but they . "100 Awfully Good Examples of Oxymorons." On top of establishing the witches' cruelty, the line is also a signal to the audience to be on guard throughout the playa warning that characters who seem fair may be foul, and vice versa. clearly misunderstood. Be sure to consider context, and connotation in addition to readability when choosing an alternatitive word. In order to get an accurate frequency count of each word, we utilize a stemmer to identify the morphological root form of a word. Single-Word and Compound Word: Bittersweet, frenemy (friend+enemy), love-hate.Adjective + Noun: Sweet sorrow (made famous by William . This statement made by Holden reveals the level of complexity and impact an oxymoron can have as a literary device when it comes to interpretation. An example might help: the oxymoron "sweet sorrow" speaks to the paradox that love and pain can go together, but the oxymoron is not, in and of itself, the paradox that it expresses. adjective form vs the noun form). The album's recording took place from June 2012 through 2013.
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