Word.ws English Dictionary

paradoxically

UK/ˌpaɹəˈdɒksɪkli//ˌpɛɹəˈdɑksɪkli/

paradoxically adverb: in a paradoxical manner; so as to create a paradox.

Adverb

paradoxically (comparative more paradoxically, superlative most paradoxically)

  1. In a paradoxical manner; so as to create a paradox.
    • The proliferation of labor-saving devices has not given us more leisure time, paradoxically.
    • If there exists a non-empty set of uninteresting natural numbers, there must be a smallest uninteresting number, but this number is paradoxically interesting because it is the smallest uninteresting number.

Examples of paradoxically in a sentence

  • Paradoxically, the same faculty who complain about busyness are most likely to end up waiting passively.1997, Gary A. Olson, Todd W. Taylor, Publishing in Rhetoric and Composition, page 218:
  • But Central Point, which had been a visibly mixed-race community since the 19th century, was home to a secret but paradoxically open interracialism.2008 May 14, Brent Staples, “Loving v. Virginia and the Secret History of Race”, in New York Times:
  • Paradoxically, the deluge of writing itself contributes to declining readership.2013 September 6, Colin Robinson, “Put down the pen and give us all a break”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 13, page 39:

Forms of paradoxically

comparativemore paradoxically
superlativemost paradoxically

Origin of paradoxically

From paradoxical + -ly.

Questions about paradoxically

What does paradoxically mean?
Paradoxically means in a paradoxical manner; so as to create a paradox.
How do you use paradoxically in a sentence?
Paradoxically, the same faculty who complain about busyness are most likely to end up waiting passively.
What part of speech is paradoxically?
Paradoxically is an adverb.
How do you pronounce paradoxically?
Paradoxically is pronounced /ˌpaɹəˈdɒksɪkli/ (UK).

Words near paradoxically in the dictionary

  1. paradoxical rage reactions
  2. paradoxical sleep
  3. paradoxical undressing
  4. paradoxicalities
  5. paradoxicality
  6. paradoxically
  7. paradoxicalness
  8. paradoxician
  9. paradoxicians
  10. paradoxid
  11. paradoxidid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paradoxically (page history and authors). 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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