as in dichotomy
someone or something with qualities or features that seem to conflict with one another
the paradox of fighting a war for peace
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of paradox
For the past decade, and more significantly in the second half, popular artists have been caught in a paradox.
—
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 1 Mar. 2025
Friction point: Politicians often conflate undocumented immigrants with criminals, creating a paradox for crime victims — even though being in the U.S. illegally is a civil violation, not a criminal one.
—Yacob Reyes, Axios, 25 Feb. 2025
Delany, the nineteenth-century abolitionist, keenly understood a paradox that is central to nationalism: one group’s nationalist project can represent bondage for another.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The simultaneous discoveries of the individual and society created, Hunt argues, a paradox.
—Marjoleine Kars, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paradox
Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 1 Mar. 2025
Friction point: Politicians often conflate undocumented immigrants with criminals, creating a paradox for crime victims — even though being in the U.S. illegally is a civil violation, not a criminal one.
—Yacob Reyes, Axios, 25 Feb. 2025
Delany, the nineteenth-century abolitionist, keenly understood a paradox that is central to nationalism: one group’s nationalist project can represent bondage for another.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The simultaneous discoveries of the individual and society created, Hunt argues, a paradox.
—Marjoleine Kars, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paradox
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paradox
Noun
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Dugin sees a dichotomy between liberalism and its enemies that goes back to antiquity.—
Arash Azizi,
The Atlantic,
19 Mar. 2025
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The director sought to develop that sharp dichotomy and turn a lens on the stark differences between a bustling urban life and the slow comforts and calamities of home.—
Holly Jones,
Variety,
17 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Set against the atmospheric backdrop of 19th-century Vietnam during the Nguyễn Dynasty, the film centers on a terrifying mystery after the discovery of a headless corpse sends shockwaves through a rural village.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
31 Mar. 2025
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Cosmic rays may offer an out-of-this-world answer to a long-standing mystery about lightning on Earth, a new study suggests.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Russian officials have shrugged off questions about the seeming contradiction by emphasizing the need to engage the Taliban to help stabilize Afghanistan, which the group rules.—
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Arkansas Online,
1 Apr. 2025
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His history at the position runs headfirst into contradictions.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
29 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Supernal landscapes and the gigantic, palatial mother ship — with its combination of colonial, gothic, and neoclassical architecture — take viewers low and high, from the spiritual enigmas of Humanité to its carnal reality.—
Armond White,
National Review,
14 Mar. 2025
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The film, based on a true story that became a media sensation in the '80s, never renders definitive judgment on von Bülow (who was acquitted in court), leaving him an indelible enigma that Irons teases but never tells.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
2 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Meanwhile, Adela, a former poet now showing signs of dementia, creates spontaneous poetry of poignant incongruities.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2025
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But that incongruity becomes part of The Monkey’s strange sense of humor.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
21 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Paradox.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paradox. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
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