as in contradictions
someone or something with qualities or features that seem to conflict with one another
the paradox of fighting a war for peace
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Recent Examples of paradoxes
This is one of the defining paradoxes of the AI era.
—
Joseph Fowler,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Sometimes the irony turns bitter and, with a typically Eastern European sensibility, highlights the paradoxes of institutions, as well as the madness and meanness born from the pursuit and preservation of power.
—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
8 June 2026
Reflecting on these piercing paradoxes, Dusabejambo’s narrative (co-written with Delphine Agut) cannot but be shaped by them; there are no simple resolutions for a reality defined by ruptures and ragged edges.
—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
26 May 2026
Qualitative research enables researchers to deeply explore the tensions, ambiguities and paradoxes that characterize everyday life.
—
Ankolika De,
The Conversation,
19 May 2026
While Goodman’s paradoxes and fantasies posed challenges to me as her biographer, with the advent of AI slop and ChatGPT, our courtship with illusion (and possibly delusion) is here to stay.
—
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Burke gets some heavy digs in at all the paradoxes of tradwifery.
—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
11 May 2026
Zermelo was pleased that his list of principles, known as ZF, appeared to cleanse the set-theoretic universe of many major paradoxes such as Russell’s.
—
Quanta Magazine,
29 Apr. 2026
The only problem is, negotiating and understanding the subsequent paradoxes — which writer/director Shane Carruth made little effort to simplify — requires a PhD in high-level physics.
—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
17 Mar. 2026
Joseph Fowler,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Sometimes the irony turns bitter and, with a typically Eastern European sensibility, highlights the paradoxes of institutions, as well as the madness and meanness born from the pursuit and preservation of power.
—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
8 June 2026
Reflecting on these piercing paradoxes, Dusabejambo’s narrative (co-written with Delphine Agut) cannot but be shaped by them; there are no simple resolutions for a reality defined by ruptures and ragged edges.
—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
26 May 2026
Qualitative research enables researchers to deeply explore the tensions, ambiguities and paradoxes that characterize everyday life.
—
Ankolika De,
The Conversation,
19 May 2026
While Goodman’s paradoxes and fantasies posed challenges to me as her biographer, with the advent of AI slop and ChatGPT, our courtship with illusion (and possibly delusion) is here to stay.
—
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Burke gets some heavy digs in at all the paradoxes of tradwifery.
—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
11 May 2026
Zermelo was pleased that his list of principles, known as ZF, appeared to cleanse the set-theoretic universe of many major paradoxes such as Russell’s.
—
Quanta Magazine,
29 Apr. 2026
The only problem is, negotiating and understanding the subsequent paradoxes — which writer/director Shane Carruth made little effort to simplify — requires a PhD in high-level physics.
—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
17 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paradoxes
Noun
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And for far too many Americans, those contradictions have become their day-to-day life.
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Some artists have eras, experimental phases, detours, creative dalliances; Arthur Russell’s career, for all its seeming contradictions—classical minimalism and lascivious disco, Zen Buddhist mantras and winsome country pop—was a continuum.
Noun
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Albert’s prose sometimes strains for lyricism, but the mysteries embedded in the novel—creative, familial, and supernatural—exert a powerful draw.
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Its goal is to unlock the mysteries of dark energy while planet hunting outside our solar system.
Noun
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Petzold marvelled at the incongruities.
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Ridge’s equal deftness at the high end and the low is one of many apparent incongruities that the winery has managed to balance comfortably.
Noun
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In 2024, now grown and with her adoptive father’s approval, the young woman sets off with a wealthy merchant to piece together the historical enigmas surrounding the ancient Sumpa kingdom.
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Bob Gray is one of the big enigmas in the book that are intentionally put there to create tension and are never solved.
Noun
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The thing about anamorphic that’s so interesting to me is the relationship within the frame, especially with multiple characters or two characters, showing these parallels and dichotomies.
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My ugliness sat in the middle of the organizing dichotomies on which society rests…threatening its collapse.
Cite this Entry
“Paradoxes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paradoxes. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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