Paradox
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
paradox
n 1: (logic) a statement that contradicts itself; "`I always
lie' is a paradox because if it is true it must be false"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
paradox \par"a*dox\ (p[a^]r"[.a]*d[o^]ks), n.; pl. {paradoxes}
(p[a^]r"[.a]*d[o^]ks*[e^]z). [F. paradoxe, L. paradoxum, fr.
Gr. para`doxon; para` beside, beyond, contrary to + dokei^n
to think, suppose, imagine. See {Para-}, and {Dogma}.]
A tenet or proposition contrary to received opinion; an
assertion or sentiment seemingly contradictory, or opposed to
common sense; that which in appearance or terms is absurd,
but yet may be true in fact.
[1913 Webster]
A gloss there is to color that paradox, and make it
appear in show not to be altogether unreasonable.
--Hooker.
[1913 Webster]
This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it
proof. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
{Hydrostatic paradox}. See under {Hydrostatic}.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
57 Moby Thesaurus words for "paradox":
Gordian knot, absurdity, ambiguity, ambivalence, antinomy,
asymmetry, contradiction, crux, dilemma, disproportion,
disproportionateness, enigma, equivocality, equivocation, heresy,
heterodoxy, heterogeneity, hopelessness, impossibility, impossible,
impossibleness, incoherence, incommensurability, incompatibility,
inconceivability, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, irony,
irreconcilability, knot, knotty point, mystery, no chance, node,
nodus, nonconformability, nonconformity, nonplus, oxymoron,
perplexity, pons asinorum, poser, problem, puzzle, quandary,
self-contradiction, teaser, the impossible, unconformability,
unconformity, unimaginability, unorthodoxy, unthinkability,
vexed question, what cannot be, what cannot happen
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