List of oxymora - Definition and Overview

This is a list of oxymora, phrases commonly mistaken for oxymora, or phrases that are falsely labelled as oxymora for comic effect.

A

• Act naturally
• Active retirement
• Adult children
• Advanced BASIC
• Agree to disagree
• Airline food
• Alberta environment minister
• Almost exactly
• Alone together
• Anarcho-capitalism
• Anti-missile missile
• Assistant supervisor
• Authentic reproduction
• Awfully good

B

• Baby grand (piano)
• Bad luck
• Barely dressed
• Better than new

• Big baby
• Bitter sweet
• Black gold
• Black light
• Blue rose
• Born dead
• Burning cold
• Business ethics
• Butt head
• Buy now, pay later

C

• Californian culture
• Canadian culture
• Canadian military
• Clearly confused
• Clearly misunderstood
• Climb down
• Cold sweat
• Communist state
• Computer jock
• Constant change
• Corporate ethics
• Countless numbers
• Crash landing

D

• Deafening silence
• Death benefits
• Definite maybe
• Detailed summary
• Diet ice cream
• Dimwit
• Doing nothing
• Drawing a blank
• Dry humor
• Dry ice
• Dry lake
• Dull knife
• Dull roar

E

• Educated guess
• Educational television
• Elevated subway
• Equal opportunity
• Exact estimate
• Extensive briefing
• Extinct life

F

• Fail safe
• Fairly dark
• Fatally injured
• Fiber glass
• Fine mess
• Forward lateral
• Found missing
• Forever's end
• Free servitude
• Freezer burn
• Fresh Frozen
• Friendly fire
• Front end
• Full-time hobby
• Fuzzy logic

G

• Genuine imitation
• Genuine veneer
• Going nowhere
• Good grief
• Government initiative
• Government organization
• Government worker
• Growing smaller
• Guest host

H

• Half dead
• Harmless sin
• Healthy tan
• Highly depressed
• Holy war
• Hopelessly optimistic

I

• Idiot savant
• Infinite number
• Intelligent footballer
• Invisible ink

J

• Jumbo shrimp

K

• Kick boxer

L

• Least favorite
• Legally drunk
• Legally forbidden
• Lethal assistance (Contra aid)
• Libertarian socialism
• Lightweight
• Limited lifetime guarantee
• Liquid gas
• Live recording
• Living dead
• Local long-distance
• Loud whisper
• Loud silence

M

• Mandatory options
• Mercy killing
• Microsoft Works
• Military intelligence
• Modest magnificence
• Mournful optimist
• Multiple unit
• Mutual differences

N

• Neutral point of view
• Never say never
• New and improved
• New classic
• New routine
• New tradition
• New York culture
• No comment
• Non-alcoholic beer
• Non-dairy creamer
• Now, then...
• Null value
• Numbing sensation
• Natural disaster ??

O

• Old news
• One choice
• Online newspaper
• Only choice
• Open secret
• Opposite attraction
• Original copy

P

• Paper towel
• Partial cease-fire
• Peace force
• Perfect stub
• Permanent guest host (a rare "triple" oxymoron)
• Plastic glasses
• Plastic Silverware
• Political science
• Poor little rich girl
• Progressive Conservative
• Pretty ugly

Q

• Quarter full

R

• Radio show
• Random order
• Rap music
• Reality television
• Religious tolerance
• Resident alien
• revisionist historian as, for example "David Irving, the revisionist historian" from The Times September 14 2004
• Rubber cement
• Rural town
• Rush hour

S

• Same difference
• Sanitary landfill
• Scatter-hoarder
• Science Fiction
• Second best
• Seriously funny
• Silent alarm
• Silent scream
• Simply superb
• Sinfully good
• Single copy
• Small crowd
• Small fortune
• Soft Rock
• Sports sedan
• Standard deviation
• Standard options
• Stripper's dressing room
• Stop motion
• Sweet and sour
• Sweet sorrow
• Synthetic natural gas

T

• Taped live
• Tax return
• Temporary destiny
• Terribly good
• Terribly pleased
• Thinking out loud
• Tight slacks
• Totally partial (to something)
• Tough love
• True lies
• True replica
• Twelve-ounce pound cake

U

• Unbelievably real
• Uninvited guest
• Universal Time (see Special relativity)
• unsalted saltine

V

• Victimless crime
• Virgin mother
• Virtual reality

W

• War games
• Well-known secret
• White chocolate
• Whole part
• Wickedly good
• Wireless cable
• Working vacation

X

Y

• Young adult

Z