Word.ws English Dictionary

paradoxical

Syllables: pa·ra·dox·ic·alUK/ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl//ˌpɛɹəˈdɑːksɪkəl/

paradoxical adjective: having self-contradictory properties.

Adjective

paradoxical (comparative more paradoxical, superlative most paradoxical)

  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.1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, book II, ch 2
    • 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.1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book 2, ch 4

paradoxical meaning in Tamil and Malayalam

paradoxical in Tamil

முரண்பாடான

paradoxical in Malayalam

inconsistent, contradictory, self-contradictory
പൂർവാപരവെെരുദ്ധ്യമുള്ള, വെെരുദ്ധ്യാത്മകം, പരസ്പരവിരുദ്ധമായ, സ്വയം നിഷേധിക്കുന്ന, പ്രത്യക്ഷത്തിൽ വിരുദ്ധമായി തോന്നുന്ന, വിരുദ്ധമതമായ

Examples of paradoxical in a sentence

  • Parton’s hometown, the small rural church of his childhood was a paradoxical institution.
  • In the dromosphere there is only the paradoxical possibility of an immediate memory.
  • I have named this paradoxical position—a combination of belief and antiworship —as misotheism.

All 25 example sentences with paradoxical

Synonyms of paradoxical

Antonyms

Forms of paradoxical

comparativemore paradoxical
superlativemost paradoxical

Origin of paradoxical

From paradox + -ical.

Words formed from paradoxical

Phrases with paradoxical

Questions about paradoxical

What does paradoxical mean?
Paradoxical means having self-contradictory properties.
What is paradoxical in Tamil?
Paradoxical in Tamil is முரண்பாடான. See Paradoxical meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is paradoxical?
Paradoxical is an adjective.
How do you pronounce paradoxical?
Paradoxical is pronounced /ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/ (UK).

Words near paradoxical in the dictionary

  1. paradoxes of saving
  2. paradoxes of thrift
  3. paradoxes of tolerance
  4. paradoxial
  5. paradoxic
  6. paradoxical
  7. paradoxical embolism
  8. paradoxical embolisms
  9. paradoxical frog
  10. paradoxical frogs
  11. paradoxical intention

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paradoxical (page history and authors); paradoxical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paradoxical (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-paradoxical.ogg.

Cite this entry: “paradoxical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/paradoxical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.