Standard Lemma guide

paradoxical

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌpæɹəˈdɒksɪkəl/
  • General-American: /ˌpɛɹəˈdɑːksɪkəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH2 R AH0 D AA1 K S IH0 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having self-contradictory properties.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it is paradoxical that standing is more tiring than walking

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: self-contradictory

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English paradox Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ic Proto-Indo-European *h2el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al Middle English -ical English -ical English paradoxical From paradox + -ical.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: պարադոքսային (paradokʻsayin) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Catalan: paradoxal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自相矛盾的 (zìxiāngmáodùn de) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Dutch: paradoxaal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Finnish: paradoksaalinen — having self-contradicting properties
  • French: paradoxal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Galician: paradoxal — having self-contradicting properties
  • German: paradox — having self-contradicting properties
  • Hungarian: paradox — having self-contradicting properties
  • Italian: paradossale — having self-contradicting properties
  • Italian: assurdo — having self-contradicting properties
  • Japanese: 逆説的な (gyakusetsuteki na) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Japanese: 逆説の (gyakusetsu no) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Kazakh: әдеттен тыс (ädetten tys) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Kazakh: парадокстық (paradokstyq) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Kazakh: парадоксалды (paradoksaldy) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Latvian: paradoksāls — having self-contradicting properties
  • Polish: paradoksalny — having self-contradicting properties
  • Portuguese: paradoxal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Russian: парадокса́льный (paradoksálʹnyj) — having self-contradicting properties
  • Spanish: paradójico — having self-contradicting properties
  • Spanish: paradojal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Swedish: paradoxal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Turkish: paradoksal — having self-contradicting properties
  • Yiddish: פּאַראַדאָקסיש (paradoksish) — having self-contradicting properties