Paradox Meaning: When Something Sounds Impossible but Is True

Paradox meaning in plain words

A full definition of paradox covers three senses, and they shade into each other.

1. A seemingly absurd truth. A sentence that looks impossible at first but makes sense on reflection: "Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast."
2. A genuine logical puzzle. A chain of reasoning that seems sound but leads to a conclusion that cannot be right, like the sentence "This statement is false." If it is true, it is false, and if it is false, it is true.
3. A person or thing with clashing qualities. "My grandfather was a paradox: a shy man who loved giving speeches."

Paradox definition by origin: against opinion

Paradox comes from the Greek paradoxon, built from para, meaning against or beyond, and doxa, meaning opinion or belief. So a paradox is, at root, something that runs against what people expect. The word reached English through Latin paradoxum in the sixteenth century, first meaning a statement contrary to accepted opinion.

Everyday examples

• It is a paradox that the cheapest shoes often cost the most, since you replace them every few months.
• Our manager pointed out the paradox of having too many meetings about saving time.
• Having endless choices on a menu can leave you less satisfied, which feels like a paradox.
• Paradoxically, the quiet student asked the boldest question in the seminar.
• The city faces a paradox: new roads were built to cut traffic, but they drew even more cars.

Famous kinds of paradox

Philosophers and scientists have collected paradoxes for thousands of years.

• The liar paradox: a sentence that says it is false.
• The runner puzzle from ancient Greece: to finish a race, a runner must first reach the halfway point, then half of what remains, and so on forever, so how can anyone finish? Later mathematics of infinite sums helps explain it.
• The time-travel paradox: if you went back and stopped your own grandparents from meeting, you would never exist to make the trip.
• The heap puzzle: one grain of sand is not a heap, and adding one grain never turns a non-heap into a heap, yet big piles of sand clearly exist.

Paradox vs oxymoron vs irony vs contradiction

Put simply, an oxymoron is a tiny paradox squeezed into a phrase, while a plain contradiction has no hidden truth to uncover. You may also like our page on juxtaposition, the placing of contrasting things side by side.

Using paradox and paradoxical correctly

Use a paradox for the thing itself and paradoxical to describe it: "a paradoxical result". The adverb paradoxically often opens a sentence to flag a surprising twist. Common pairings include a strange paradox, the central paradox, resolve a paradox and the paradox of followed by a noun.

Avoid using paradox for any mere coincidence. A rainy wedding day is bad luck, not a paradox. There must be a real clash of ideas.

Paradox in school, science and work

Literature teachers use paradox for lines that hold a deeper truth inside an apparent clash. Economists and planners talk about paradoxes when a sensible choice by each person leads to a bad result for everyone. In science, a paradox often signals that a theory needs fixing. You can find more writing terms on the writing terms hub.