oxymoron
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“Foreseeable future” is an oxymoron right up there with “jumbo shrimp.”
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
You can, even if it sounds like an oxymoron, travel alone without being a solo traveler.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 17, 2026
Wintertime salads may be an oxymoron for some, but to me, they’re a necessity.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
But as David Nasaw’s “The Wounded Generation” makes emphatically clear, a good war is an oxymoron.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
That’s an oxymoron if Scoob’s ever heard one.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
As oxymorons go, it’s the operatic equivalent to Noam Chomsky’s famous syntactic puzzle “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
From New York Times ● May 16, 2024
“People think ‘disabled’ and ‘hiker’ are oxymorons, like you can’t be disabled and go hiking, and that’s just not true at all,” Nagakyrie said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
The story deals in oxymorons – bitter desire, weak power – and jolts to a conclusion that is harsh, cool, indelible.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 2, 2019
What it creates are these sports oxymorons, all in the hope of gaining fame by virtue of having none.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2018
“I erased my entire hard drive last night. I need to load everything back on and rewrite that essay for English. Hey, Brady, remember those oxymorons we talked about in lit the other day?”
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
Vocabulary lists containing oxymoron
Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - Introductory
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Poetry: Literary Devices
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AP English Lit exam terms
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