How is oxymoron translated? What is an oxymoron? An oxymoron is characterized by the deliberate use of contradiction to create a stylistic effect. From a psychological point of view, an oxymoron is a way of resolving an inexplicable situation
Allowing you to create an unexpected and striking effect in fiction or journalism. This is meant as an oxymoron. The definition and examples of this interesting phenomenon, where and how it is used in different languages - you will learn all this further.
Definition
Oxymoron (another spelling “oxymoron”) comes from an ancient Greek phrase that can be translated into Russian as “witty stupidity.” This name itself is an oxymoron. It can be assumed that this was precisely the example that gave the name to the whole phenomenon.
Probably, the first oxymorons were the result of inattention or poor knowledge of the language and, accordingly, were stylistic errors. But then this phenomenon was picked up by writers and quickly turned into an artistic device. Its essence is to combine together incompatible concepts, actions or characteristics. This is done in order to attract attention, emphasize certain qualities of the depicted, create an effect of surprise, etc. Often, an oxymoron is used to create a comic or satirical atmosphere. Examples from fiction eloquently prove how great the expressive potential of this stylistic device is.
Correct word stress
Before further studying this phenomenon, it is necessary to clarify an important point. If you use this term in spoken language, how will you put emphasis on the word?
Unfortunately, most of our compatriots do not know this and therefore make a speech error. In the word "oxymoron" the stress falls on the second syllable, that is, on the letter "yu". This is exactly how it should be pronounced in Russian, regardless of number and case.
It is noteworthy that in English and German the word oxymoron has a double accent. The peculiarities of the use of oxymorons in the literature of different nations will be discussed later in the article.
Use as a means of expression
If you carefully read the various examples, the oxymoron appears as an expression of internal contradiction, which the author does not try to hide, but, on the contrary, emphasizes. For example, let’s take lines from the poem “Tsarskoe Selo Statue”, written by A. Akhmatova:
Look, she has fun being sad
So elegantly naked.
Here you can see not one, but two examples of the artistic technique we are considering: “happily sad” and “elegantly naked.” The author's goal is to try to look into the depths of things and see them from an unusual side.
This stylistic device can be seen in the works of a huge number of authors - both poets and prose writers. For this reason, it is impossible to identify literary genres or styles in which the oxymoron is most often used.
Examples from fiction
Russian literature is replete with similar combinations of words. They look especially impressive in the titles of works, for example:
- “Optimistic tragedy” (V. Vishnevsky);
- “Hot Snow” (Yu. Bondarev);
- “Running on the Waves” (A. Green);
- “The Living Corpse” (L. Tolstoy);
- “Dead Souls” (N. Gogol);
- “Tomorrow there was war” (B. Vasiliev);
- “The End of Eternity” (A. Azimov).
The oxymoron is no less popular in prose works. As an illustration, here is a quote from George Orwell’s famous novel “1984”: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." Here, each part of the slogan of a dystopian state is a combination of incompatible things, which allows the writer to reveal his idea in the most accurate and memorable way. Also, an example of such an artistic technique can be the famous Latin proverb: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
In all the above literary quotes, one can trace the similarities, namely the author’s intention to connect opposing concepts. This is an oxymoron.
Examples in Russian
Usually we don’t even think about it when we hear or pronounce phrases that are typical oxymorons. “Scorching cold”, “living dead”, “honest thief”, “silent scream”, “ringing silence”, “ordinary miracle”, “smart nonsense”, “speaking silence”, “cold fire”, “new tradition” - These are all typical examples. An oxymoron can make you think, open up new facets of a particular phenomenon, and make you laugh.
If you are writing a text and want to use this stylistic device in it, then be careful. There should not be too many oxymorons, otherwise they will lose their artistic value and will look like speech errors. When using incompatible concepts in oral speech, you should also not get carried away: make sure that your listeners correctly perceive your thought.
In foreign languages
Oxymoron is no less popular in English. Examples of this phenomenon can be found in poetry and prose. The quote from J. Orwell already cited in this article is just a drop in the ocean. Other illustrations include the following:
It was an open secret. - “It was not a secret” (literally: “It was a known secret”).
Lightless light - "dark light".
Good Bad Boys - "good bad guys."
A young middle-aged woman - "middle-aged young woman."
Love-hate - “hateful love”.
Bloody good - “damn good”.
Peace force - "peaceful force".
Alone together - “loneliness together” (literally “lonely together”).
Only choice - "the only choice".
Just like in Russian, oxymorons are widely used in English titles. Take a closer look, for example, at the well-known names of Hollywood films: Back to Future, True Lies and the like.
The oxymoron can be found in German (angstgeruch - “the smell of fear”, der fremde freund - “stranger’s friend”) and in many others. Such a vivid means of artistic expression is used in the speech of many peoples.
Oxymorons in everyday life
It's surprising how often we say phrases containing oxymorons without even realizing it. Here are some examples where almost no one notices the oxymoron:
- "more than half";
- "terribly beautiful";
- "drink to your health";
- "a virtual reality";
- "afterlife", etc.
All these expressions have become so firmly established in everyday use that we don’t even think about how contradictory they are in their meaning. Studying oxymorons can encourage you to take a different look at familiar words, expressions, and language in general.
Instead of an afterword
However, it is worth noting that not all combinations of words with opposite meanings can illustrate the phenomenon described in this article as examples of it. An oxymoron is, first of all, a deliberate combination of contradictory images. For this reason, researchers refer to stable expressions (“white crow”, “bottomless barrel”) and stylistic combinations (“sweet tears”, “poisonous honey”) as a phenomenon called catachresis, and not an oxymoron. However, the similarity between both stylistic devices is quite strong.
In addition, many researchers compare the oxymoron with a paradox. Indeed, there is much in common between these phenomena.
Paradox, oxymoron, catachresis - these phenomena can be used as artistic techniques and demonstrate new, unusual, original aspects of our reality.
If you are interested, what is an oxymoron, then this article is for you. They often sound very beautiful. The term in question appears to fall into just such a category. Let's look at its etymology.
Oxymoron or oxymoron comes from the ancient Greek οξύμωρον, which literally means “witty-foolish.”
In principle, from the definition itself it is already clear that this is a kind of contradiction. After all, if a word is witty, then it cannot be stupid at the same time.
However, this is the essence of the oxymoron.
By the way, the stress in the word has two valid options, on the second and last syllable: Oxymoron and Oxymoron. Moreover, it is entirely permissible to pronounce and write this term with the letter “i”: oxymoron.
For clarity, we give the following examples.
Examples of an oxymoron
- The greater half (if it is half, then it cannot be greater or lesser)
- Living Dead
- Dry water
- old New Year
- Deafening silence
- Original copies
- True lies
- Brazen modesty
- Well-mannered boor
- Clever bungler
- A silent cry
- sworn friend
- Public secret
- Honest politician (subtle irony)
- Swiss refugee (and this is quite a witty person)
In short, you already understand that an oxymoron usually consists of two words that contradict each other.
It is important to note here that it is precisely such paradoxical expressions and phrases that attract the attention of our brain. This business is successfully used by talented advertisers and marketers.
Surely you know very popular films whose names are pure oxymorons. For example: “An Ordinary Miracle”, “True Lies”, “Back to the Future”, “The Married Bachelor”, etc.
Oxymorons in book titles
In literature there are also many works called oxymorons:
- "Living Dead"
- "Living Relics"
- "Honest Thief"
- "Dead Souls"
- V. Vishnevsky “Optimistic tragedy”
- "An Ordinary Miracle"
- D. Galkovsky “Endless Dead End”
- L. Martynov “The Rich Beggar”
- L. Gurchenko “My adult childhood”
Once you understand the meaning of the word “oxymoron,” you will be able to successfully use this concept when communicating with people. After all, this figure of speech stylistically decorates the conversation, giving the speaker the effect of a talented storyteller.
Oxymoron in literature
Note that poets often use oxymorons to embellish the sublime flight of a poem with casual contradiction. Here are some literary examples.
, "Poltava":
And the day has come. Gets up from his bed
Mazepa, this frail sufferer,
This corpse is alive, just yesterday
Moaning weakly over the grave.
, “Soviet Rus'”:
, “Tsarskoye Selo statue”:
Look, she has fun being sad
Such elegantly naked.
, “Wretched and smart”:
The restless tenderness of the gaze,
And the fake paint hurts,
And the wretched luxury of the outfit -
Everything is not in her favor.
, “From Karamzina’s album”:
But their ugly beauty
I soon comprehended the mystery,
And I'm bored with their incoherent
And a deafening tongue.
Well, now you not only know what an oxymoron is, but you have also become acquainted with the most outstanding examples from world literature.
For dessert, we offer you to look at a magnificent, subtle and exquisite oxymoron in the form of a picture:
To consolidate this smart word in your vocabulary, use it a couple of times in everyday life.
How to do it?
Well, for example, your mother or wife will prepare food for you. After tasting the food, gently say: “Terribly delicious!”
If there is no reaction, then try to calmly but firmly ask the question: “Well, how do you like my oxymoron?”
Believe me, admiration for your intelligence will not keep you waiting!
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It's like an erroneous stylistic figure that uses words with polar opposite meanings.
And what is an oxymoron?
A combination of the incompatible in all the contradiction of meanings. But a purely psychological oxymoron helps to clarify the most confusing, inexplicable situations. The brightly colored one often takes root in speech so much that people stop flinching and being surprised when they hear the oxymoron.
Examples - an oxymoron that has taken root
Characteristics that sound very common and quite commonplace are: courageous woman, feminine man, honest cheater(Mavrodi) , humane flayer(poisoned a dog in the park so that the children would not be afraid) , intelligent banditry(politics of the United States), and as a phrase it does not surprise anyone at all.
Classic oxymorons
Even more often, oxymorons are invented. After all, what is an oxymoron? This is, among other things, an indicator of the presence of a speaker or writer. Surely everyone will smile when they hear or read this: to harm And do good, cheerful wake - three accordions were torn. Therefore, it is not only the writing people who are trying their best. Of course there are great examples. An oxymoron from Gogol, from Dostoevsky, from Turgenev, from Tolstoy, from Bondarev, from Zinoviev. How can you forget" Dead Souls" or "Hot Snow", "Yawning Heights" or " An ordinary miracle".
Modern oxymorons
However, many modern oxymorons were born with the desire to survive: unpaid salary no longer surprises anyone. A elegant nudity not only amazes, but also delights with poetry. Life goes into endless dead end. Buy uncertificated securities! Life-giving euthanasia Russian language. Innovative traditions indestructible! " Optimistic tragedy"that's the guarantee" WITH eyes wide shut". Daria Dontsova is especially creative in this regard. Almost every title of her books is an oxymoron. This is quite common in modern literature when a contradiction of meanings helps to quickly understand the meaning of the phenomenon being described and remember it more firmly. And the stylistic effect is obvious: the oxymoron is even used in trainings to liberate the “childishness” inside an adult. Remember Chukovsky: who is that scary giant? A cockroach, just that.
Neologisms
The main condition for creating an oxymoron is the deliberate nature of the internal contradiction in the phrase. A virtual reality- one of the most successful oxymorons of our time. Honest Thief- can also apply not only to Detochkin, but also to Navalny. And fair trial! Old news- superior definition of information in the age of technology. An oxymoron as such is not even quite a definition; it is very close to the action. Therefore, especially gifted writers came up with a neologism: oxymoron, For example. Sounds great: reforms are an oxymoron. The main thing is that everything is clear to everyone, which means the definition is spot on. So we figured out what an oxymoron is.
An oxymoron, an oxymoron it is a stylistic figure consisting of a combination of incongruous meaning; contradictory unity, a kind of paradox. An oxymoron is also considered a type of antithesis, but antithesis is the opposition of concepts and phenomena, their fundamental differentiation, i.e. its function is actually the opposite of that of the Oxymoron. Oxymoron is often used in poetry.
Examples of using Oxymoron:
In A.S. Pushkin - “my sadness is bright” (“On the hills of Georgia lies the darkness of the night...”, 1829), “I love the lush wilting of nature” (“Autumn”, 1833), in A.A. Akhmatova - “spring autumn" ("An unprecedented autumn built a high dome...", 1922), "So ceremoniously naked" ("without a hero", 1940-62). Oxymorons often become titles: “The English Spanish Flu” (1613) by M. Cervantes, “Dead Souls” (1842) by N.V. Gogol, “Leaves of Grass” (1855) by W. Whitman, “The Living Corpse” (1900) by L.N. .Tolstoy. The genre designation “prose poem” is oxymoronic. For the New Age, Oxymoron is a “novel in verse”, as well as a “story in verse”, which arose in Russia in the 18th century and became the most important genre for romantics. An oxymoron can occur unintentionally, as stylistic negligence. In M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem “Dream” (1841), the “familiar corpse” is essentially an Oxymoron, which would look comical if not for the deep tragedy of the general tone and the atmosphere not characteristic of sleep, blurring the boundaries between imagination and reality, life and death.
Synesthesia is close to Oxymoron- combining impressions received by different senses. In Russia, V.A. Zhukovsky began to widely practice it. The elegy “Evening” (1806) is indicative: “Oh, the quiet, thoughtful luminary of the heavens... How pale the shore has become golden!” (actually oxymoronic synesthesia). In B.L. Pasternak, the sun “covered the neighboring forest with hot ocher...” (“August”, 1953) - metaphorical synesthesia. Among prose writers, V.V. Nabokov showed great interest in synesthesia.
Hello site readers! Recently, the word “oxymoron” has gained popularity and widespread use on the World Wide Web.
The unusual sound brings to mind fantasy novels and films and gives the impression that the word appeared quite recently. Indeed, Internet users, especially residents of forums and social networks, simply love to come up with unusual words.
- When you hear the word Oxymoron, you imagine either some cruel ruler from a fictional fantasy world, or an ominous, gloomy tower on a planet lost in deep space, in which a beautiful alien princess languishes, waiting to be saved by the valiant Luke Sywalker.
- Someone, when asked what an oxymoron is, replied: “This is what one of the towers in Moscow City is called.”
- Another objected to this: “What a tower, “Oxxxymiron” is the name of a popular domestic rock band.”
In fact, the term Oxymoron has long been known in academic linguistics and denotes a phraseological turn consisting of words with the opposite meaning, and one of the words is used in a metaphorical sense.
In fiction, this stylistic turn has been actively used since time immemorial.
In general, a combination of words with contradictory meanings merges into a certain idiom with an extremely vivid and “sharp” meaning.
- "Merry sadness."
- "Hot ice cream."
- "True lies."
The specific sound of the word Oxymoron suggests the Greek origin of the term, and this is true. Literally, an oxymoron is translated from Greek as “sharp, piercing stupidity.”
Historians believe that this term first appeared in Ancient Greece, in ancient literature.
Pronunciation, spelling and how to emphasize
The rules of the Russian language allow for fairly free spelling and pronunciation of the term.
Below are some of them:
- Oxymoron. With stress on the second syllable (Greek version).
- Oxymoron.
- Oxymoron. With emphasis on the last syllable. (Russian version).
- Oxymoron.
We’ve sorted out the meanings and terminology, now we can delve a little deeper into the scope of application - why, why, what benefits can be derived.
Examples from fiction and life
- A photograph of a road sign with a crossed out silhouette of a dog that reads “No Urination”, on the post of which a small dog raised its leg to relieve itself.
- A prohibitory sign depicting a dove with a red oblique stripe, on which the bird of peace is comfortably perched.
- A car parked directly under a “No Parking” sign.
These kinds of pictures receive a huge number of likes and shares, bringing the authors enormous popularity on social media.
In Russian literature (and Soviet literature too), oxymoronic paradoxes can often be found both in the titles and in the content of literary works.
"Living Dead"
The oxymoron “living corpse” is widely known from Leo Tolstoy’s play written in 1900, but a century earlier Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin used the phrase in the cult poem “Poltava”.
In the eighties of the twentieth century, a whole series of horror films “The Living Dead” in various variations was popular.
What is a zombie if not a living corpse?
If we analyze the reasons for such frequent use of oxymorons in the titles of works of art from a marketing point of view, then everything is quite clear and logical.
- The paradoxical, contradictory and sharp, piercing sound of oxymorons becomes a powerful magnet that attracts the attention of readers, viewers, and listeners.
- Many people will want to get acquainted with a work that has an unusual and ambiguous sound, if only out of pure curiosity. This means that they will buy a book, listen to a song, watch a movie.
Thus, the paradox of an oxymoron in the experienced hands of professional marketers turns into an effective tool for promoting works of art on the market and popularizing copyright brands.
Take for example the title of the movie “Back to the Future”, which with its inconsistency attracts attention and arouses the desire to go to the cinema or buy a disc, download the video and see what it’s about.
In this case, the film turned out to be very good and successful. But it’s not uncommon for a bright oxymoron in a name to make completely dataless and worthless information products popular, after consuming which one becomes painfully sad for wasted time and money.
Oxymoron in foreign literature
It is impossible to ignore and not mention in connection with the topic of discussion George Orwell’s novel “1984” - this is a real storehouse of oxymorons.
- "Freedom is slavery."
- “Ignorance is strength.”
- "War is peace."
And here is an example of an oxymoron that made a rock band famous even before the public had time to understand and love the rather difficult music in the heavy rock format, when this style was not yet popular.
"Lead Airship"
Can a lead zeppelin fly?
But Led Zeppelin took off, so much so that it thundered throughout the world and firmly entered the list of the best of the best musical groups of all times.
And the well-chosen oxymoron in the title played an important role in this brilliant career of rock musicians.
Many people listened to the heavy rock of this group solely under the impression of the “sharp” and paradoxical name of the group, although later they turned out to be unable to “get into” this kind of creativity, because “they had not yet grown up to such music,” as Dunno from Sunny City put it.
Nevertheless, the result was achieved - the guys earned millions of dollars, and Led Zeppelin tracks are forever included in the TOP 100 best songs of the twentieth century.
This is what this notorious “Oxymoron in simple words” is.
Oxymorons in household use
Try to tell your neighbor that he used Oxymoron in a conversation, but a kind person will be surprised, scared and even offended: “How dare you! So that I would say such words, and even in front of children.”
Well, what can you say about such “local idiomatic expressions” that we hear from each other all the time.
- "Not really".
- "Terribly kind."
- "Creepily beautiful."
- “Incredibly glad.”
These are all typical examples of oxymorons often used in interpersonal communication on a daily basis.
And no one is scared or surprised by what complex grammatical phrases we know.