as in paradox
someone or something with qualities or features that seem to conflict with one another
she's an incongruity: an impeccably groomed woman who keeps a messy house
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Recent Examples of incongruity
Not a single critic of the book was struck by the incongruity of this failure in basic thriller plotting.
—
Literary Hub, 5 Feb. 2026
Plehn finds the bottom-quark incongruities intriguing.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Feb. 2026
In another show, with a lesser writer, such incongruities could be read as character inconsistencies, accidental oversights, mistakes.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Jan. 2026
That creates a certain level of incongruity on those campuses.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incongruity
Literary Hub, 5 Feb. 2026
Plehn finds the bottom-quark incongruities intriguing.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 Feb. 2026
In another show, with a lesser writer, such incongruities could be read as character inconsistencies, accidental oversights, mistakes.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Jan. 2026
That creates a certain level of incongruity on those campuses.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incongruity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incongruity
paradox
Noun
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Known as the twin paradox, this is the equivalent of identical twins aging differently if one of them were to travel faster than the other.—
Ameya Paleja,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Apr. 2026
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That paradox is central to the film.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Incongruity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incongruity. Accessed 30 Apr. 2026.
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