paradox

American  

[par-uh-doks] / ˈpær əˌdɒks /

noun

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

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

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”; para- ¹ ( def. ), orthodox ( def. )

Example Sentences

There is a cruel paradox at the heart of all this.

From BBC

That’s in line with the phenomenon known as the Jevons paradox, which says that efficiency and affordability benefits ultimately net greater uptake of a product.

From MarketWatch

Hamilton added that he, too, saw the paradox inherent in the new rules.

From BBC

The Jevons paradox suggests that would drive up AI-model adoption and thus lead to more demand for memory.

From MarketWatch

For now, the prisoners inside Evin and throughout the country are enduring a dystopian paradox—cut off from information about the war and yet seeing and hearing its effects reverberating outside the compound walls.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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