What is the definition of oxymoran?

Answer 1

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that places together elements that appear to form a contradiction. An example of an oxymoron can be found in the title of the American pop song by Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence.

Answer 2

Oxymorons are contradicting statements or comparisons.

"Poor little rich girl." is a good example, because how can a rich girl be poor? Or is this an intonation of sympathy? The juxtaposition of the two extremes (poor and rich) are what cause 'oxymoron.'

Oxymorons are even more noticeable and enjoyable when they are just 2-word pairings

Pretty Ugly

Act Natural

Bitter Sweet

Living Dead

In the film and book, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" the father and son treat oxymoron creation as a game of sorts and there are a variety of humorous and well-thought out pairings dispersed throughout the story.

Answer 3

it is a contradictory statement. For example, giant shrimp or pretty ugly.