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Paradoxical vs Antagonist - What's the difference?

paradoxical | antagonist |

As an adjective paradoxical

is having self-contradictory properties.

As a noun antagonist is

an opponent or enemy.

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

    antagonist

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An opponent or enemy.
  • * Milton
  • antagonist of Heaven's Almighty King
  • * Hooker
  • our antagonists in these controversies
  • One who antagonizes or stirs.
  • (biochemistry) A chemical that binds to a receptor but does not produce a physiological response, blocking the action of agonist chemicals.
  • * 2001': The calcium '''antagonists represent one of the top ten classes of prescription drugs in terms of commercial value, with worldwide sales of nearly $10 billion in 1999. — Leslie Iversen, ''Drugs: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2001, p. 41)
  • The main character or force opposing the protagonist in a literary work or drama.
  • (anatomy) A muscle that acts in opposition to another.
  • A flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it.

    Antonyms

    * protagonist * agonist (biochemistry)

    Anagrams

    *