PARADOX

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does paradox mean? 

• PARADOX (noun)
  The noun PARADOX has 1 sense:

1. (logic) a statement that contradicts itself

  Familiarity information: PARADOX used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARADOX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(logic) a statement that contradicts itself

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

'I always lie' is a paradox because if it is true it must be false

Hypernyms ("paradox" is a kind of...):

contradiction; contradiction in terms ((logic) a statement that is necessarily false)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Derivation:

paradoxical (seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true)

 Context examples 

He grinned savagely at the paradox.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Pardon the seeming paradox; I mean what I say.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“That’s what you call a paradox, isn’t it?” he added.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"We show that the paradox of nitrogen is literally 'written in stone,'" said co-author Scott Morford of UC Davis.

(New source of global nitrogen discovered: Earth’s bedrock, National Science Foundation)

The UT Southwestern study expands a growing body of evidence showing that patients with some chronic illnesses who are mildly obese can have better outcomes compared with people of normal weight — a finding called the obesity paradox.

(Mildly Obese Fare Better after Major Heart Attack, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

You see the paradox: It is never wise to spend a lot of money when Mercury is retrograde, but I see you ready and able to spend a lot with Mars in your second house.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Among the overweight and least obese, there was no increased risk of early death, but experts said this was probably due to the obesity paradox – that people suffering from cardiovascular disease or other obesity-related causes lose weight.

(Middle Age Severely Obese People More Likely to Die Early, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

That was the paradox of it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I forget my own life in the love of another life; and yet, such is the paradox, I never wanted so much to live as right now when I place the least value upon my own life.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)