paradox

paradox — 名詞

1. a statement, person, or situation that combines two qualities or ideas which app

1.名詞C1
釋義

悖論；弔詭

看似矛盾卻可能成立的說法或情境

a statement, person, or situation that combines two qualities or ideas which appear to clash, yet on closer thought either turns out to be true or points to a deeper truth — for example, the saying 'less is more', or a CEO who builds a calendar app while constantly running out of time.

例句

Maya pointed out the paradox that her brother spent hours on a calendar app yet was always late.

Maya 指出一個弔詭：她哥哥花好幾個小時用行事曆 app，卻老是遲到。

paradox + that-clause for stating a contradictory truth

Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise puzzled the philosophy class for a whole afternoon.

Zeno 的「阿基里斯與烏龜」悖論讓哲學課全班想了一整個下午。

named famous paradoxes: Zeno's, Liar, Grandfather

同義詞
  • contradiction

    any clash of ideas; a paradox is a contradiction that still seems somehow true

  • irony

    an outcome that mocks expectation; less about logical self-contradiction

  • oxymoron

    a two-word figure of speech (bittersweet, deafening silence); much smaller in scale than a paradox

  • puzzle

    broader and more neutral; lacks the 'seemingly impossible yet true' flavour

反義詞
  • truism

    a statement so obviously true it needs no thought — the opposite of a paradoxical claim

  • tautology

    a statement that is trivially true by repetition, with no surprising tension

文法句型

paradox + that-clause

the paradox of + noun

用法筆記

Often takes a that-clause or 'the paradox of + noun phrase' to introduce the contradictory content. Frequently appears in fixed names of famous puzzles (the Liar Paradox, Zeno's paradox, the Grandfather paradox) and in coined phrases for real-world tensions (the productivity paradox, the happiness paradox).

常見錯誤

❌The story has a paradox ending.
✅The story has a paradoxical ending.
💡'paradox' is a noun; use the adjective 'paradoxical' to describe a thing.
❌It is a paradox between freedom and security.
✅It is a tension between freedom and security.' or 'There is a paradox in wanting both freedom and total security.
💡'paradox' takes 'of' or a that-clause, not 'between'.