Wiktionary

paradoxical

English

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Etymology

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From paradox +‎ -ical.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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paradoxical (comparative more paradoxical, superlative most paradoxical)

  1. Having self-contradictory properties.
    • 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, book II, ch 2:
      It is the ambiguity of language only which can make this proposition appear either doubtful or paradoxical. When properly explained and understood, it is almost self-evident.
    • 1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book 2, ch 4:
      It sounds paradoxical, but I am inclined to think that the weakness and insanity of the curate warned me, braced me, and kept me a sane man.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
    • 1933, H. P. Lovecraft, Hazel Heald, Out of the Aeons:
      It was tightly fitted with a cap of the same substance, and bore engraved figurings of an evidently decorative and possibly symbolic nature - conventional designs which seemed to follow a peculiarly alien, paradoxical, and doubtfully describable system of geometry.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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