contradiction in terms

1. A statement that seems to contradict itself, with one part of it denying another. For example, I've always believed that “a poor millionaire” was a contradiction in terms. [Late 1700s]

Example Sentences

It made her seem like a contradiction in terms, a performing seal, rather than a complex human being.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Despite having been converted by a gangster, he regards the idea of religious criminals as a contradiction in terms.

Read more on BBC

This might seem a contradiction in terms, but the strategy appears clear from his words, including the highly personal attack on his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Read more on BBC

Constitutional law scholar John Hart Ely once scoffed that “ ‘substantive due process’ is a contradiction in terms — sort of like ‘green pastel redness.’

Read more on Washington Post

The very notion of a republican king was a repudiation of the spirit of’76 and a contradiction in terms.

Read more on Literature