paradoxical
Americanadjective
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having the nature of a paradox; self-contradictory.
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Medicine/Medical. not being the normal or usual kind.
Stimulants are a paradoxical, albeit effective, medication used for certain forms of hyperactivity.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paradoxical
Explanation
“You have to spend money to make money.” That’s a paradoxical statement used by people in business, and it seems to say two opposite things that contradict each other, but if you think about it, it’s actually kind of true. Paradoxical is an adjective that describes a paradox, something with two meanings that don’t make sense together. Its Greek roots translate to “contrary opinion,” and when two different opinions collide in one statement or action, that’s paradoxical. In Shakespeare’s play "Hamlet," Hamlet’s mother marries the man who killed Hamlet’s father, but she doesn’t know it. As Hamlet plots to kill the murderer to protect his mother, he says this paradoxical phrase: “I must be cruel to be kind.”
Vocabulary lists containing paradoxical
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Opposites Attract
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However paradoxical it may seem, it has a directly measurable effect on the atomic cloud that the photon traverses.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
As things stand, it leaves Moyes in the paradoxical position of being potentially reliant on younger players he appears more reluctant to trust.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
The film is, in part, a study in leadership, in power and its paradoxical constraints: Every unorthodox move Murashige makes meets howls of fear and confusion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
At a time when nostalgia for the ’90s is seemingly everywhere, “My Bad” places the decade into context, including its paradoxical freedoms and oppressions, with the intimate, funny rough language of your freakiest, funnest bestie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Theoretical breakthrough that it was, complementarity did nothing to resolve the paradoxical results emanating from the atomic nucleus.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
