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Oxymoron vs Antonym - What's the difference?

oxymoron | antonym |

As nouns the difference between oxymoron and antonym

is that oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect while antonym is a word which has the opposite meaning of another, although not necessarily in all its senses.

oxymoron

English

(wikipedia oxymoron)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect.
  • * A famous example is Milton, Paradise Lost , Book 1, ll. 63-4:
    • No light, but rather darkness visible
    Serv'd only to discover sights of woe
  • * Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , Act 1. Scene 1, in which Romeo utters nine oxymora in just six lines of soliloquy:
    • Why then, O brawling love', O ' loving hate ,
    O anything, from nothing first create,
    O heavy lightness'! ' Serious vanity !
    Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
    Feather of lead', '''bright smoke''', '''cold fire''', ' sick health ,
    Still-waking sleep , that is not what it is!
    This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
  • (general) A contradiction in terms.

    • Usage notes

    * Historically, an (term) was "a (paradox) with a point",Jebb, Sir Richard (1900). Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone] . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. where the contradiction seems absurd at first glance, and yet is deliberate, its purpose being to underscore a point or to draw attention to a concealed point. The modern usage of (term) as a synonym for the simpler contradiction in terms is considered incorrect by some speakers and writers, and is perhaps best avoided in certain contexts. (See also the [[w:oxymoron, Wikipedia article].)

    Derived terms

    * oxymoronic * oxymoronically * oxymoronicness

    Related terms

    * moron * oxy- * paradox * sophomore

    See also

    *

    References

    External links

    * List of oxymorons * Lee’s Complete Oxymoron List], with discussion of classification ([http://web.archive.org/web/20080617020051/http://lee.critesclan.com/oxymorons.html archive) English autological terms English oxymorons

    antonym

    English

    (wikipedia antonym)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (semantics) A word which has the opposite meaning of another, although not necessarily in all its senses.
    • "rich" is an antonym''' of "poor"; "full" is an '''antonym of "empty" .

    Antonyms

    * synonym

    Derived terms

    * autoantonym * antonymic * antonymous * antonymy * binary antonym * complementary antonym * gradable antonym * polar antonym * relational antonym

    See also

    * thesaurus *

    External links

    * (wikipedia) ----