This week’s theme
Words with irregular plurals

This week’s words
chrysalis
imago
tour de force
bourgeois
oxymoron


This week’s comments
AWADmail 771

Next week’s theme
Eponyms from Greek mythology

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ok-see-MOR-on, -mor-)
plural oxymorons or oxymora (ok-see-MOR-uh, -mor-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A figure of speech in which two contradictory terms appear together for emphasis, for example, “deafening silence”.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek oxymoron, from neuter of oxymoros (sharp dull), from oxys (sharp) + moros (dull). The word moron comes from the same root. Earliest documented use: 1656.

USAGE:

“Karen ... stood regal and slim, statuesque even, or just plain beautiful, oxymoron notwithstanding.”
Nicholas Aharon Boggioni; The Fundamentalist’s Daughter; Xlibris; 2016.

See more usage examples of oxymoron in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: