Wednesday, June 22, 2011

SHARP DULL

An oxymoron (from Greek ὀξύμωρον, "sharp dull") is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. 



Oxymorons are sometimes inadvertently created by errors or sloppiness in conversation.
Examples:   
found missing
 deafening silence
virtual reality  
  pretty ugly   
almost exactly  
exact estimate
seriously funny
tragic comedy
liquid gas
larger half
same difference
constant variable
working holiday
definite maybe
even odds
freezer burn
original copies
jumbo shrimp
living dead
clearly confused
In some cases an inadvertent oxymoron ends up being widely adopted as the name for some concept and ceases to be recognized as an oxymoron. Examples include: bittersweet, living dead, virtual reality.


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