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paradox

American  

[par-uh-doks] / ˈpær əˌdɒks /

noun

• paradoxes
  plural

1. a statement that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

   “Less is more” is a paradox often repeated in the arts and other fields.

   It is a paradox of healthy grief that we must work at it while surrendering to it.

2. any person, thing, or situation displaying an apparently contradictory nature.

   In the media the candidate was called a paradox—an unpopular populist.

   Synonyms:

   riddle, anomaly, puzzle

3. a self-contradictory and false statement, especially one arising from seemingly acceptable premises and correct logical argument.

4. time paradox.

5. Also called paradox illusion.  an optical illusion depicting an impossible object, often a two-dimensional figure that the viewer intuitively interprets as representing a three-dimensional one, but which cannot actually exist in three dimensions: brought to popular attention especially by the work of M. C. Escher.

6. Archaic. an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion.

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paradox British  

/ ˈpærəˌdɒks /

noun

1. a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that is or may be true

   religious truths are often expressed in paradox

2. a self-contradictory proposition, such as I always tell lies

3. a person or thing exhibiting apparently contradictory characteristics

4. an opinion that conflicts with common belief

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paradox Cultural  

1. A statement that seems contradictory or absurd but is actually valid or true. According to one proverbial paradox, we must sometimes be cruel in order to be kind. Another form of paradox is a statement that truly is contradictory and yet follows logically from other statements that do not seem open to objection. If someone says, “I am lying,” for example, and we assume that his statement is true, it must be false. The paradox is that the statement “I am lying” is false if it is true.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• paradoxology
  noun
• paradoxal
  adjective
• paradoxical
  adjective
• paradoxically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• paradoxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paradox

First recorded in 1530–40; from Middle French paradoxe, from Latin paradoxum, from Greek parádoxon, noun use of neuter of parádoxos “contrary to expectation, unbelievable, beyond belief”; see para- ¹ ( def. ), orthodox ( def. )

Explanation

Here's a mind-bender: "This statement is false." If you think it's true, then it must be false, but if you think it's false, it must be true. Now that's a paradox! A paradox is a logical puzzler that contradicts itself in a baffling way. "This statement is false" is a classic example, known to logicians as "the liar's paradox." Paradoxical statements may seem completely self-contradictory, but they can be used to reveal deeper truths. When Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything except temptation," he used a paradox to highlight how easily we give in to tempting things while imagining that we can hold firm and resist them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paradox paradoxes

Peter Bai James, a health worker who served on the front lines in Sierra Leone during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, calls it an epidemiological paradox.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

It was to address this paradox that the so-called Buddhist Lent campaign began in 2003, and last year it claimed more than eight million adherents.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

The "obesity paradox" refers to findings suggesting that people living with obesity may, under certain circumstances, have lower mortality rates than people with a BMI in the normal range.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

Then he faced a uniquely modern policing paradox: When no one is driving, who gets the ticket?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

He demonstrated the exercises of the great acting teacher Stanislavsky, he imitated Charlie Chaplin’s funny walk, and when he was reading about calculus, he explained Zeno’s paradox and the infinite series.

From "Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution" by Ji-li Jiang

"Slavery and segregation have been strange paradoxes in a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal."

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

A book club is filled with a hundred little paradoxes: They want to learn but not be lectured to.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026

Recognizing the categorical difference between occurrence and existence resolves these paradoxes.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2025

One of the paradoxes of songwriting is that it can be fiendishly difficult to craft something that sounds effortlessly simple.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025

Zero clashed with one of the central tenets of Western philosophy, a dictum whose roots were in the number-philosophy of Pythagoras and whose importance came from the paradoxes of Zeno.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Related Words

• absurdity
• ambiguity
• anomaly
• enigma
• inconsistency
• mystery
• oddity