An oxymoron (plural oxymorons or oxymora) is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymorons appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as ground pilot and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.
A few examples:
- Honest Politician
- Happily married
- Microsoft Works
- Holy war
- Found missing
- Great depression
- United nations
- Genuine imitation
- Airline Food
- Almost exactly
- Sensitive man
- Government organization
- Everything except
- Good kid
- Business ethics
- Military Intelligence
- Software documentation
- Christian Scientists
- Temporary tax increase
- Plastic glasses
- Computer security
- Pretty ugly
- Diet ice cream
- Exact estimate
- Religious tolerance
Vocabulary Help
- Airline Food – Comida de avião
- Almost exactly – quase exatamente
- Business ethics – ética de negócios
- Christian Scientists – Cientistas Cristãos
- Computer security – segurança de computadores
- Diet ice cream – sorvete diet
- Everything except – tudo exceto
- Exact estimate – estimativa exata
- figure of speech – figura de linguagem
- Genuine imitation – Imitação Genuína
- Good kid – garoto bom
- Government organization – organização governamental
- Great depression – Grande Depressão
- Happily married – bem casado
- Holy war – Guerra Santa
- Honest Politician – político honesto
- Military Intelligence – Inteligência militar
- Oxymoron – oxímoro
- Plastic glasses – copo de plástico
- Pretty ugly – pretty (bonito), ugly (feio), significa “bem feio”
- Religious tolerance – tolerância religiosa
- Sensitive man – homem sensível
- Software documentation – documentação de software
- Temporary tax increase – aumento temporário de impostos
- United nations – Nações Unidas