How to Use oxymoron in a Sentence

oxymoron

noun
  • The phrase “cruel kindness” is an oxymoron.
  • The thing that most struck me was the oxymoron (no longer) of standing outside in a hot wind.
    Chris Mooney, Discover Magazine, 6 July 2011
  • No-makeup makeup is the oxymoron that just will not quit.
    Sable Yong, Allure, 22 June 2017
  • The concept itself may strike some as something of an oxymoron.
    Jason Kehe, Wired, 8 July 2020
  • The Tibetans spend a lot of time living with death, if that isn't an oxymoron.
    TheWeek, 17 May 2020
  • Strength of schedule is an oxymoron the next few weeks for the Patriots.
    BostonGlobe.com, 17 Sep. 2019
  • What was once an oxymoron is now the increasing norm: Camping is very much on the grid.
    Jessica Teich, Good Housekeeping, 3 July 2021
  • Linen napkins may seem like an oxymoron but these are more for fashion than function.
    Jessica Cherner, House Beautiful, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Still, a career in fashion sounded like an oxymoron back then.
    Joshua Levine, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2017
  • There’s an oxymoron that floats around the audio industry.
    Lauren Jackson, New York Times, 7 May 2021
  • But many people consider the phrase to be an Orwellian oxymoron.
    Robert Hackett, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2020
  • What sounds like an oxymoron mostly refers to synthetic products.
    Denitsa Tsekova, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Coaching the All-Star Game is kind of an oxymoron, anyway.
    Daniel Mano, The Mercury News, 15 Feb. 2017
  • The idea of an honest Prohibition agent was nearly an oxymoron.
    Lillian Cunningham, Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2018
  • Ashley Chandrasinghe is a player to watch in the future - and that's not an oxymoron.
    Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2023
  • That experience was both priceless and valuable — and that’s not an oxymoron.
    Star Tribune, 23 Oct. 2020
  • The riff-laden metal song may be the best-sounding Nickelback song in years — and no, that is not an oxymoron!
    Vulture, 7 Oct. 2022
  • This oxymoron doesn't match any data or statements from key businesses who say quite the opposite.
    Ben Baldanza, Forbes, 6 May 2022
  • The idea of a moderate on social media can sometimes seem like an oxymoron, but this is because the loudest voices drown out those in the middle.
    Christopher A. Bail, CNN, 4 May 2021
  • And Irish cuisine, once considered a bit of an oxymoron, is on full display in Dublin.
    Sean Patrick Flynn, Travel + Leisure, 11 Oct. 2021
  • Saving money in New York: Some would say it’s an oxymoron.
    Charlotte Cowles, The Cut, 16 Feb. 2018
  • Digital performance for him is something of an oxymoron.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2021
  • This may seem like an oxymoron and can be frustrating to leaders making decisions about what to work on to increase retention.
    April Sabral, Forbes, 11 July 2022
  • Three musicians are proving that computer music is no longer an oxymoron.
    Robert Neuwirth, WIRED, 1 May 1993
  • The Light Ages is a book about medieval science, which to many casual readers sounds like something of an oxymoron.
    Chad Orzel, Forbes, 12 May 2021
  • The bureaucracy of wildlife management is part oxymoron, part paradox.
    Ben Huberman, Longreads, 4 Nov. 2017
  • Rich guys suffering consequences is an oxymoron in the NFL.
    Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 2 Feb. 2022
  • As the war went on, "precision bombing" became a comical oxymoron relished by bomber crews with a sense of black humor.
    Paul Fussell, Wartime, 1989
  • Then it was reported that Haredi viewers (the very phrase is something of an oxymoron) were also binge-watching the show.
    Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
  • Minute Earth explains: At first, a solar panel window might seem like an oxymoron.
    Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oxymoron.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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