70+ Stupidly Brilliant (& Seriously Fun) Oxymoron Examples

Ready to read some of the best oxymoron examples out there?

Want to transform lifeless speeches, scripts, poems, situations, dialogue, or settings, so they come alive in the mind of your readers and listeners?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

Oxymorons are one of the “seasonings” in great writing. Sprinkle in a few to evoke a laugh, a sense of wonder, drama, playfulness, and more.

And today, you’ll see exactly how this flavorful figurative language helps fold more flair and fun into any sentence you write.

Here’s what we’ll explore:

• The definition of an oxymoron.
• The purpose of an oxymoron.
• How it differs from paradox, irony, and juxtaposition.
• 67 oxymorons to make your writing sparkle.

Ready?

Let’s get started.

Oxymoron Definition?

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory words are put together in an unexpected way. 

Writers have used them for centuries as a literary device to describe life’s oddities, conflicts, incongruities, heartbreak, and craziness. Whether in writing or speech, using words with oxymoronic meaning can lend a sense of humor, irony, or sarcasm. 

Oxymorons aren’t unique to the English language, either.

In fact, they’re quite common in everyday speech across multiple languages, with new ones surfacing all the time — often with humorous results:

The pairing of contradictory terms grabs attention, generates surprise, and creates an impression. Also, mastering the oxymoron is an elegant way to weave clever wordplay into your creative writing.

An oxymoron can be a word or phrase in one of these formats: 

• Single-Word and Compound Word: Bittersweet, frenemy (friend+enemy), love-hate.
• Adjective + Noun: Sweet sorrow (made famous by William Shakespeare), deliberate mistake.
• Adverb + Adjective/Adverb: Alone together (popular during the COVID pandemic), seriously funny.
• Freeform: Kill with kindness, new and improved.

Oxymoron vs. Juxtaposition

Oxymorons and juxtapositions are closely related literary terms.

Juxtaposition is about placing two things side by side to bring out their differences; it’s about comparing situations, ideas, emotions, characters, settings, and events.

A great example is the movie, “Legally Blonde,” starring Reese Witherspoon. 

She decides to go to Harvard Law School because she wants to win her boyfriend back.

But she doesn’t look at all like the typical law student with her pink clothes, her Chihuahua, Bruiser, who goes with her everywhere in her tote bag, and her bright orange MacBook standing out against all the gray and silver laptops in the classroom.

An oxymoron is a type of juxtaposition, just shorter and focused on two contradictory elements. For example, “sorority girl lawyer” might be an oxymoron that summarizes the plot of “Legally Blond”.

Oxymoron vs. Paradox

Paradox is another literary device in which a statement features initially contrasting ideas. However, with applied thought, paradoxes make sense. Also, they often lead the reader to an underlying truth. 

Oxymoron is considered a “condensed” paradox. Oxymoron phrases can be figuratively true but not literally true. 

Both are contradictions, but the big difference between oxymoron and paradox is that a paradox is something you think about. In contrast, an oxymoron is a description that’s enjoyed in the moment and then forgotten as the reader or listener moves on.

67 Oxymoron Examples That’ll Elevate Your Writing

There are many great oxymorons out there, and more are discovered and invented every day. Here are 67 examples that we think you’ll love.

Example of Oxymorons in Pop Culture

Modern pop culture works hard to attract the attention of the targeted viewer or reader in today’s flood of advertising. And because oxymorons provoke curiosity and interest, they make great titles for books, movies, and television:

Movie titles: 

1. “True Lies”
2. “You Only Live Twice
3. “Eyes Wide Shut”
4. “Dead Man Walking”
5. “Back to the Future”

Book titles: 

6. Honest Illusions (Nora Roberts)
7. The Worst Best Man (Mia Sosa)
8. Big, Little Lies (Liane Moriarity)
9. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari)
10. The Big Short (Michael Lewis)

Oxymoron Examples in Literature

Some of the longest-lasting oxymorons were generated by Shakespeare in his plays and are still widely used today. 

But Shakespeare isn’t the only oxymoron guru.

In fact, many modern authors are coming up with their own as well, for example:

11. Sweet sorrow (Shakespeare, 1597)
12. Misshapen chaos (Shakespeare…again)
13. Terrible beauty (William Butler Yeats, 1916)
14. Deafening silence (Origin unknown, first seen in print 1830)
15. Cruel kindness (Source unknown; to be “cruel to be kind” first in Hamlet c. 1601) 
16. Falsely true (Tennyson, 1862) 
17. Melancholy merriment (Byron, 1819)
18. Scalding coolness (Hemingway, 1940)
19. Terrible beauty (Yeats, 1916) 
20. Listen loudly (David Nour, 2017): Nour invented this oxymoronic phrase. It drives home the point of developing an intense level of listening to customers, employees, and others.

Oxymoron Quotes & Sayings

These examples might help you use oxymorons to good effect in your writing: 

21. “And where did this insane notion of buying loyalty come from? It’s a contradiction in terms.”- Steven Erikson, Dust of Dreams
22. When my boyfriend gave me a definite maybe about going out this Friday night, that was the last straw.
23. As our team gathered for the staff meeting, the boss was conspicuously absent.
24. James Bond approached the beautiful women he encountered in every assignment with cool passion.
25. The politician gave his deceptively honest opinion.
26. Trying to put a positive spin on the company’s financial status, the CFO talked about the negative growth in last quarter’s revenue.
27. Now that many employees have shown high productivity working away from the office, will their bosses now expect them to take working vacations?
28. The cop-show investigator’s well-chosen use of eloquent silence always got the bad guy to confess.

Oxymoron Use in Songs

A song’s amazing melody may make it a fan-favorite. Add a great title, like an oxymoron that represents the poetry of the lyrics, and you have a song that’s a beloved classic for years to come. 

Titles: 

29. “A Hard Day’s Night” (Beatles)
30. “Sounds of Silence” (Simon and Garfunkel)
31. “Hello I Must Be Going” (Phil Collins)
32. “Definite Maybe” (Kinks)
33. “Cold Fire” (Rush)

Lyrics: 

34. “New, old-fashioned way” from “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
35. “Your eyes whispered have we met” from “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift
36. “I only wanna die alive” from “Break Free” by Ariana Grande
37. “Now my empty cup tastes as sweet as the punch” from “Along Comes Mary” by the Association
38. “When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May” from “My Girl” by the Temptations

Oxymoron Examples in Everyday Expressions

Many oxymorons have become part of our daily language to the point where they now make sense and seem normal. They name things we know are contradictory but still apply at work, at home, in families, and in society.

39. Working vacation
40. Virtual reality
41. Alone together
42. Unbiased opinion
43. Minor miracle
44. Advanced beginner
45. Friendly fire
46. Plastic silverware
47. Controlled chaos
48. Original copy
49. Only choice
50. Act naturally
51. Old news
52. Approximate solution
53. Modern history
54. Near miss
55. Free trade
56. Minor catastrophe
57. Clean dirt
58. Small crowd
59. Silent scream

Funny Oxymorons

A comical oxymoron often comes from sarcastic or cynical contradictions. When used well, your reader or listener will at least smile if not laugh out loud. 

60. Microsoft Works
61. Government organization
62. Temporary tax increase
63. Twelve-ounce pound cake
64. Express mail
65. Marital bliss
66. Airline food
67. Peacekeeper missile
68. Soup sandwich
69. Civil war
70. Bureaucratic efficiency
71. Living dead

Why Use Oxymorons?

Oxymorons are a great way to evoke emotion, reveal a paradox, confuse the reader, or add humor to your writing. They are a versatile tool that sets your work apart from your competition and makes it more enjoyable and memorable by:

• Adding dramatic effect: “Deliberate mistake” implies a not-so-good, maybe even evil intent, creating a feeling of dread or foreboding.
• Creating a playful tone: “Genuine imitation” hints at buying a fashion brand knockoff item when you think it’s the real thing.
• Revealing a deeper meaning: “Bittersweet” has long represented the concept that happiness and sadness can be present at the same time, such as when a child goes off to college.
• Adding irony: Irony is when what shows on the surface or is expected differs radically from what is actually the case. Oxymorons can succinctly express irony, like “airline schedule” does when airlines commonly have a poor record of on-time flights. 
• Displaying character: Names of characters (“Little Joe” as a name for a big man) or places (Prairie Lighthouse, Nebraska) also offer opportunities to add depth and distinction in a succinct way.

Awfully Good Oxymoron Examples for Your Writing

That’s over five dozen oxymoron examples in several different formats to inspire fresh ways to hook your readers and keep their interest. 

As great a list as this might be, just reading this post and moving on won’t make the oxymoron magic happen in your writing. 

Bookmark this post. 

Make a point of coming back to it in your editing process, taking the time to find where your writing slumps and could use a kick in the phrasing.

Use the above examples where they fit or as models for creating your own unique oxymorons. 

This will pay off handsomely. 

Your writing will connect with your readers’ emotions, you’ll keep their attention all the way through, and they’ll come to the end wishing there was more.