n.
- a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that may in fact be true.
▸an apparently sound statement or proposition which leads to a logically unacceptable conclusion.
- a person or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.
Derivative
- paradoxical adj.
- paradoxically adv.
Etymology
C16 (orig. denoting a statement contrary to accepted opinion): via late L. from Gk paradoxon ‘contrary (opinion)’.
