What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Enigmatic vs Paradoxical - What's the difference?

enigmatic | paradoxical | Synonyms |

Enigmatic is a synonym of paradoxical.


As adjectives the difference between enigmatic and paradoxical

is that enigmatic is enigmatic while paradoxical is having self-contradictory properties.

enigmatic

English

Alternative forms

* (archaic) * (obsolete) * enigmatick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Pertaining to an enigma.
  • Mysterious.
  • *
  • *:Serene, smiling, enigmatic , she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
  • Defying description.
  • (variant) Enigmatical.
  • paradoxical

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Having self-contradictory properties.
  • * 1776 , (Adam Smith), , book II, ch 2
  • It is the ambiguity of language only which can make this proposition appear either doubtful or paradoxical . When properly explained and understood, it is almost self-evident.
  • * 1898 , , , Book 2, ch 4
  • It sounds paradoxical , but I am inclined to think that the weakness and insanity of the curate warned me, braced me, and kept me a sane man.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=4 citation , passage=By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.}}
  • * 1933 , & Hazel Heald,
  • It was tightly fitted with a cap of the same substance, and bore engraved figurings of an evidently decorative and possibly symbolic nature - conventional designs which seemed to follow a peculiarly alien, paradoxical , and doubtfully describable system of geometry.

    Synonyms

    * (having self-contradictory properties): oxymoronic, self-contradictory

    Antonyms

    * (having self-contradictory properties): self-consistent, self-evident