Paradox

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpaɹədÉ’ks/
• US IPA: /ˈpɛɹədÉ‘ks/, IPA: /ˈpæɹədÉ‘ks/

Origin

From Middle French paradoxe <Latin paradoxum, from Ancient Greek παράδοξος (paradoxos, "unexpected, strange").

Full definition of paradox

Noun

1. A self-contradictory statement, which can only be true if it is false, and vice versa.paradox"This sentence is false" is a paradox.
• According to one version of an ancient paradox, an Athenian is supposed to say "I am a liar." It is then argued that if the statement is true, then he is telling the truth, and is therefore not a liar ...
2. A counterintuitive conclusion or outcome.paradoxIt is an interesting paradox that drinking a lot of water can often make you feel thirsty.
• 1983 May 21, Ronald Reagan, "",The most fundamental paradox is that if we're never to use force, we must be prepared to use it and to use it successfully.
3. A claim that two apparently contradictory ideas are true.paradoxNot having a fashion is a fashion; that's a paradox.
• How quaint the ways of Paradox!
  At common sense she gaily mocks!
  Though counting in the usual way years twenty-one I've been alive,
  Yet reck'ning by my natal day,
  Yet reck'ning by my natal day,
  I am a little boy of five!
4. A person or thing having contradictory properties.paradoxHe is a paradox; you would not expect him in that political party.
• You are a paradox of bitch and angel.
5. An unanswerable question or difficult puzzle, particularly one which leads to a deeper truth. paradox
• And only by dismantling our preconceptions of age can we be free to understand the paradox: How young are the old?
6. (obsolete) A statement which is difficult to believe, or which goes against general belief.
• Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
  transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
  force of honesty can translate beauty into his
  likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the
  time gives it proof.
• 1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia, Richmond 1957, p. 3they contended to make that Maxim, that there is no faith to be held with Infidels, a meere and absurd Paradox ....
7. (uncountable) The use of counterintuitive or contradictory statements (paradoxes) in speech or writing.
• The need for paradox is no doubt rooted deep in the very nature of the use we make of language.
8. (uncountable, philosophy) A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.
• Thus, like modern disputants, they aimed either to confute the respondent or to land him in paradox.
9. (uncountable, psychotherapy) The practice of giving instructions that are opposed to the therapist's actual intent, with the intention that the client will disobey or be unable to obey.paradox
• Defiance-based paradox is employed so that the family will actively oppose and deliberately sabotage the prescription.

Usage notes

paradox A statement which contradicts itself in this fashion is a paradox; two statements which contradict each other are an antinomy.

paradox This use may be considered incorrect or inexact.

Banach and Tarski's theorem (commonly known as the Banach-Tarski paradox, though it is not a true paradox, being counterintuitive rather than self-contradictory) ...

It is not a true paradox, merely highly nonintuitive behavior, if one accepts the realistic and local assumptions of EPR.

paradox This use may be considered incorrect or inexact.

An enigma, therefore, is not a paradox, but a paradox, not being intelligible, may seem like an enigma.

Synonyms

• paradox shocker informal
• paradox juxtaposition, contradiction
• paradox puzzle, quandary, riddle, enigma, koan
• paradox reverse psychology

Derived terms