paradoxical

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
23
Words With Friends
26
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/ · /ˌpɛɹəˈdɑːksɪkəl/

Definition of paradoxical

1 sense · 1 part of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Having self-contradictory properties.
    “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.”
    “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.”
    “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.”
    “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.”
    “The new civilizationism is a paradoxical combination of “identitarian” Christianity, secularism, philo-Semitism, Islamophobia, and even some elements of liberalism such as support for gender equality and gay rights.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From paradox + -ical.

Words you can make from paradoxical

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9-letter words

1 word

8-letter words

2 words

7-letter words

17 words

6-letter words

19 words

5-letter words

40 words

4-letter words

91 words

3-letter words

29 words

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