paradox

Meaning

Noun

• An apparently self-contradictory statement, which can only be true if it is false, and vice versa.
• A counterintuitive conclusion or outcome.
• A claim that two apparently contradictory ideas are true.
• A thing involving contradictory yet interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time.
• A person or thing having contradictory properties.
• An unanswerable question or difficult puzzle, particularly one which leads to a deeper truth.
• A statement which is difficult to believe, or which goes against general belief.
• The use of counterintuitive or contradictory statements (paradoxes) in speech or writing.
• A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.
• 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.

Related

Similar words

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

Origin

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