An oxymoron is a figure of speech, usually one or two words, in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side. This contradiction is also known as a paradox. Writers and poets have used it for centuries as a literary device to describe life's inherent conflicts and incongruities. In speech, oxymorons can lend a sense of humor, irony, or sarcasm.

Using Oxymorons

The word "oxymoron" is itself oxymoronic, which is to say contradictory. The word is derived from two ancient Greek words: oxys, which means "sharp," and moronos, which means "dull" or "stupid." Take this sentence, for example:

"This was a minor crisis and the only choice was to drop the product line," (Todd 2007).

There are two oxymorons in this sentence: "minor crisis" and "only choice." If you're learning English as a second language, you might be confused by these figures of speech. Read literally, they contradict themselves. A crisis is defined as a time of serious difficulty or importance. By that measure, no crisis is unimportant or minor. Similarly, "choice" implies more than one option, which is contradicted by "only," which implies the opposite.

But once you become fluent in English, it's easy to recognize such oxymorons for the figures of speech that they are. As the example's author, Richard Watson Todd, said, "The true beauty of oxymorons is that, unless we sit back and really think, we happily accept them as normal English."

Oxymorons have been used since the days of the ancient Greek poets. William Shakespeare was known to sprinkle them throughout his plays, poems, and sonnets. Oxymorons also feature in modern comedy and politics. The conservative political writer William Buckley, for instance, became famous for quotes like, "An intelligent liberal is an oxymoron."

100 Examples of Oxymorons

Like other kinds of figurative language, oxymorons (or oxymora) are often found in literature. As shown by this list of 100 awfully good examples, oxymorons are also part of our everyday speech. You'll find common figures of speech, plus references to works of classic and pop culture.

absent presence (Sidney 1591)

alone together

awful good

beggarly riches (Donne 1624)

bittersweet

brisk vacancy (Ashbery 1975)

cheerful pessimist

civil war

clearly misunderstood

comfortable misery (Koontz 2001)

conspicuous absence

cool passion

crash landing

cruel kindness

darkness visible (Milton 1667)

deafening silence

deceptively honest

definite maybe

deliberate speed

devout atheist

dull roar

eloquent silence

even odds

exact estimate

extinct life

falsely true (Tennyson 1862)

festive tranquility

found missing

freezer burn

friendly takeover

genuine imitation

good grief

growing smaller

guest host

historical present

humane slaughter

icy hot

idiot savant

ill health

impossible solution

intense apathy

joyful sadness

jumbo shrimp

larger half

lascivious grace (Shakespeare 1609)

lead balloon

liquid marble (Jonson 1601)

living dead

living end

living sacrifices

loosely sealed

loud whisper

loyal opposition

magic realism

melancholy merriment (Byron 1819)

militant pacifist

minor miracle

negative growth

negative income

old news

one-man band

only choice

openly deceptive

open secret

original copy

overbearingly modest

paper tablecloth

paper towel

peaceful conquest

plastic glasses

plastic silverware

poor health

pretty ugly

properly ridiculous

random order

recorded live

resident alien

sad smile

same difference

scalding coolness (Hemingway 1940)

seriously funny

shrewd dumbness

silent scream

small crowd

soft rock

"The Sound of Silence" (Simon 1965)

static flow

steel wool

student teacher

"sweet sorrow" (Shakespeare 1595)

terribly good

theoretical experience

transparent night (Whitman 1865)

true fiction

unbiased opinion

unconscious awareness

upward fall

wise fool

working vacation

﻿Sources

Ashbery, John. Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. Viking Press, 1975.

Byron, Lord. "Don Juan." 1819.

Donne, John. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. 1624.

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940.

Jonson, Ben. "Poetaster." 1601.

Koontz, Dean. One Door Away From Heaven. Bantam Books, 2001.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Samuel Simmons, 1667.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. 1595.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 40." 1609.

Sidney, Philip. Astrophel and Stella. 1591.

Simon, Paul. "The Sound of Silence." Tom Wilson, 1965.

Tennyson, Alfred. "Lancelot and Elaine." Idylls of the King. 1862.

Todd, Richard Watson. Much Ado About English: Up and Down the Bizarre Byways of a Fascinating Language. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2007.

Whitman, Walt. "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d." Sequel to Drum-Taps. 1865.