Library / English Dictionary

PARADOX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(logic) a statement that contradicts itself

Example:

'I always lie' is a paradox because if it is true it must be false

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("paradox" is a kind of...):

contradiction; contradiction in terms ((logic) a statement that is necessarily false)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Derivation:

paradoxical (seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true)

Credits

 Context examples: 

And right there is the cursed paradox of it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The paradox of it was that it was the story itself that was freighted with his power, that was the channel, for the time being, through which his strength poured out to her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She was clean, and her cleanness revolted; but she was woman, and she was just beginning to learn the paradox of woman.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)