paradoxical
Americanadjective
-
having the nature of a paradox; self-contradictory.
-
Medicine/Medical. not being the normal or usual kind.
Stimulants are a paradoxical, albeit effective, medication used for certain forms of hyperactivity.
Other Word Forms
- nonparadoxical adjective
- nonparadoxicalness noun
- paradoxicality noun
- paradoxically adverb
- paradoxicalness noun
- ultraparadoxical adjective
- unparadoxal adjective
- unparadoxical adjective
Etymology
Origin of paradoxical
Explanation
“You have to spend money to make money.” That’s a paradoxical statement used by people in business, and it seems to say two opposite things that contradict each other, but if you think about it, it’s actually kind of true. Paradoxical is an adjective that describes a paradox, something with two meanings that don’t make sense together. Its Greek roots translate to “contrary opinion,” and when two different opinions collide in one statement or action, that’s paradoxical. In Shakespeare’s play "Hamlet," Hamlet’s mother marries the man who killed Hamlet’s father, but she doesn’t know it. As Hamlet plots to kill the murderer to protect his mother, he says this paradoxical phrase: “I must be cruel to be kind.”
Vocabulary lists containing paradoxical
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Opposites Attract
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Former U.K. and Canada central banker White frets about the paradoxical relationship in the U.S. between the administration of Donald Trump and the dollar.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 7, 2026
Mr. Trump is no Talleyrand himself, but his surprisingly successful paradoxical stance Talleyrand would appreciate.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025
"These results also provide a potential explanation for how stimulants treat hyperactivity, which previously seemed paradoxical," Dosenbach added.
From Science Daily • Dec. 29, 2025
In the end, the paradoxical title "I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki" may, in fact, be another way of saying, "I want to live."
From BBC • Oct. 18, 2025
The reader of Unweaving the Rainbow opens the book and is walloped with a reminder of the most dreadful fact we know, and on its heels a paradoxical elaboration.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
