paradoxically

American  

[par-uh-dok-sik-lee] / ˌpær əˈdɒk sɪk li /

adverb

1. in a self-contradictory or seemingly self-contradictory way.

   Paradoxically, the more we know, the more we identify an increasing number of questions to which we as yet have no answers.

---

Other Word Forms

• nonparadoxically adverb
• ultraparadoxically adverb
• unparadoxically adverb

Etymology

Origin of paradoxically

paradoxical ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

The decrease was driven, paradoxically, by cleaner air.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

So, paradoxically, war can leave investors uneasy about shares of defense contractors.

From Barron's • Mar. 10, 2026

He says that companies that could debut this year paradoxically have both high market capitalizations and the potential to be mega-growers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

A keystone’s angled downward pressure on each side locks the larger form in place, paradoxically allowing the arch to rise up.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025

From today’s vantage, the attack seems to have begun, paradoxically, with the publication in 1986 of a landmark pro-Clovis paper in Current Anthropology by a linguist, a physical anthropologist, and a geneticist.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann