What is

Oxymoron?
Oxymoron
• Oxymoron is a figure of
speech in which two
opposite ideas with
contrasting meanings are
joined to create an effect.
 Examples:
• Open secret
• Tragic comedy
• Seriously funny
• Awfully pretty
• Original copies
• Liquid gas
• cruel kindness
• living death
Example sentences:
1. There was a love-hate relationship
between the two neighboring states.
2. The contractor was asked to give
the exact estimate of the project.
3. The green pasture surrounded by
hills was teeming with a deafening
silence.
4. Paid volunteers were working for
the company.
5. Our English teacher told us a joke
that is seriously funny.
What is Paradox?
Paradox
• A paradox is a statement that seems to
contradict itself, or seems to go against
itself, but may contain a basic or
underlying truth when examined more
closely. A paradox may be thought of as
working against common sense but
seems to be true, or state a truth. In
some cases, we think of paradoxes as
riddles or questions of logic. When a
phrase is a paradox, we say it is
paradoxical.
• Opposing ideas that work together to
reveal a truth.
 Examples:
1. We run individually in the
team.
2. I saw it was the beginning of
the end.
3. I know that I know nothing.
4. The medicine made me sick
before it made me better.
5. My grandmother feels younger
as she ages.
What is their
difference?
What is their difference?
• It is important to understand the
difference between an oxymoron and
a paradox. A paradox may consist of
a sentence, or even a group of
sentences. An oxymoron, on the
other hand, is a combination of two
contradictory or opposite words. A
paradox seems contradictory to the
general truth, but it does contain an
implied truth. An oxymoron, however,
may produce a dramatic effect, but
does not make literal sense.
ACTIVITY
TIME!!!
Direction: Below is a collection of paradoxes
and oxymoron. Identify each by writing P for
paradox or “O” for oxymoron. Answer directly.

1. It’s a definite maybe that Talia

will come to the party.
2. I must be cruel to be kind.
3. There was a deafening silence
in the stadium.
4. Robin Hood was an honest
thief.
5. No one goes to that store
because it is too crowded.
6. She was busy doing nothing.