List of Common Oxymorons
Note: this site is currently in pre-beta not-quite-alpha status.
Proceed at your own risk, acknowledging
(a) it's not all here yet and
(b) it's not gonna be pretty.
Thank you.
absent presence
alone together
awful good
beggarly riches
bittersweet
brisk vacancy
cheerful pessimist
civil war
clearly misunderstood
comfortable misery
conspicuous absence
cool passion
crash landing
cruel kindness
darkness visible
deafening silence
deceptively honest
definite maybe
deliberate speed
devout atheist
dull roar
eloquent silence
even odds
exact estimate
extinct life
falsely true (Tennyson 1862)
festive tranquility
found missing
freezer burn
friendly takeover
genuine imitation
good grief
growing smaller
guest host
historical present
humane slaughter
icy hot
idiot savant
ill health
impossible solution
intense apathy
joyful sadness
jumbo shrimp
larger half
lascivious grace (Shakespeare 1609)
lead balloon
liquid marble (Jonson 1601)
living dead
living end
living sacrifices
loosely sealed
loud whisper
loyal opposition
magic realism
melancholy merriment (Byron 1819)
militant pacifist
minor miracle
negative growth
negative income
old news
one-man band
only choice
openly deceptive
open secret
original copy
overbearingly modest
Welcome to a place…Where war is civil,
the odds are even
and even the grief is good.Where you can act naturally,
be alone together
and enjoy your death benefits.
Where the shrimp are jumbo
(and fresh frozen),
the donuts are Krispy Kreme,
the trucks are Dodge Ram
and the software is Microsoft Works.
Everything is so wholesome,
it’s almost perfect!
Welcome to a world of contradictions,
where your only choice in Encyclopedias is:
THE OXYPEDIA.