What's an Oxymoron?
( Pronounced: Oxy - Moron )
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines an oxymoron as:
A rhetorical figure of speech in which markedly contradictory terms
appear in conjunction so as to emphasize the statement.
Two examples of oxymorons in everyday use:
i) When their eyes met, it was a bitter sweet moment.
ii) Her comments were greeted with a deafening silence.
Are the pairs of words below Oxymorons?
I thought there'd be a dozen or so oxymorons until I did a bit of research. Astoundingly, it seems that there might be hundreds of them!
Be careful though, just because two consecutive words contradict each other it doesn't mean that they necessarily form an oxymoron.
My English isn't good enough for me to state categorically whether or not pairs of words are oxymorons but I like the following possibilities.
I suspect that most of them aren't, but have a look at them anyway and see what you think. Some are interesting; some are amusing.
I especially like the one about ladies' hosiery!
These are they: ( Posh English for the more common Pitmatic, Them's them! ) Enjoy.
- Act Natural
- Action Plan
- Active Retirement
- Advanced Beginner
- Almost Exactly
- Alone Together
- Altogether Separate
- American English
- American Intelligence
- Amicable Divorce
- Anarchy Rules
- Angry Patient
- Another One
- Assistant Supervisor
- Assisted Suicide
- Auto Pilot
- Awfully Good
- Baggy Tights
- Bar Entrance
- Barely Clothed
- Behave Badly
- Bitter Sweet
- Burning Cold
- Calculated Risk
- Charm Offensive
- Civil Disobedience
- Clearly Misunderstood
- Climb Down
- Come Away
- Constant Change
- Criminal Lawyer
- Critical Acclaim
- Crowded Room
- Curved Line
- Deafening Silence
- Definitely Maybe
- Deliberate Mistake
- Demanding Patient
- Detailed Summary
- Devout Atheist
- Dim Wit
- Diplomatic Offensive
- Divided Loyalty
- Divorce Court
- Dry Humour
- Elementary Calculus
- Empty Lots
- Entire Portion
- Escaped Prisoner
- Fail Safe
- Fairly Dark
- Far Closer
- Feeling Numb
- Fine Mess
- Foreign National
- Forgotten Memories
- Found Missing
- Free Credit
- Friendly Fight
- Front End
- Graduate Student
- Head Butt
- Highly Depressed
- Highway Underpass
- Home Office
- Homeless Shelter
- Huge Shortage
- Income Tax
- Incredibly Common
- Industrial Park
- Infinite Number
- Inside Out
- Instant Classic
- Intelligent Footballer
- Internal Exile
- Light Shade
- Limited Freedom
- Living Dead
- Long Shorts
- Loose Fit
- Love Affair
- Middle East
- Midnight Sun
- How about Monopoly?
- Movable Fixture
- Moving Target
- Much Less
- Muted Sound
- Narrow Range
- Neutral Colour
- Never Again
- New Routine
- Night Light
- No Comment
- Odourless Smell
- Old News
- Once Again
- One Another
- Open Secret
- Organised Chaos
- Original Copy
- Outer Core
- Oven Fried
- Paid Volunteer
- Parallel Connection
- Partially Complete
- Peace Offensive
- Plain Pattern
- Pretty Ugly
- Pronounced Silence
- Pure Evil
- Recent History
- Recorded Live
- Recycling Dump
- Restless Sleep
- Retired Worker
- Rock Opera
- Rolling Stop
- Rough Finish
- Round Box
- Same Difference
- Seriously Funny
- Set Free
- Shabby Chic
- Shoot Blanks
- Short Distance
- Silent Scream
- Slow Speed
- Solo Concert
- Tax Refund
- Team Boss
- Tragic Comedy
- Unsung Hero
- Utter Silence
- etc. etc.
- Finally, something we're all involved in: Future History.