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Oxymoron
An (usual plural oxymorons, less commonly the Greek-style oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors (such as "ground pilot") and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.
The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective–noun combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson's Idylls of the King contains two oxymorons:
And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
Other examples of oxymorons of this kind include:
- Dark light
- Guest host (also: Permanent guest host)
- Crazy wisdom
- Ethical egoism
- Mournful optimist
- science fiction
- political science
The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective–noun combination of two words. For example, the following line from Tennyson's Idylls of the King contains two oxymorons:
Other examples of oxymorons of this kind include: