Difference between 'oxymoron', 'paradox', 'contradiction' and 'misnomer' [closed]
What is the difference between the words oxymoron, paradox, contradiction and misnomer? For example,
Benevolent dictator is an oxymoron.
If I replace oxymoron with misnomer, paradox, or contradiction, how will the meaning change?
- Paradox
A seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which, when investigated, may prove to be well-founded or true.
The uncertainty principle leads to all sorts of paradoxes, like particles being in two places at once.
Oxford Dictionaries
- Misnomer
A wrong or inaccurate name or designation.
‘King crab’ is a misnomer -— these creatures are not crustaceans at all.
Oxford Dictionaries
A wrong or inaccurate use of a name or term.
To call this ‘neighbourhood policing’ would be a misnomer.
- Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
Faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
Oxford Dictionaries
- Contradiction
Combination of statements, ideas, or features which are opposed to one another.
The proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions.
A situation in which inconsistent elements are present.
The paradox of using force to overcome force is a real contradiction.
The statement of a position opposite to one already made.
The second sentence appears to be in flat contradiction to the first.
Oxford Dictionaries
All of them seem the same to me.
Solution 1:
A paradox is a logical issue, where a conclusion and the reasoning that led to it are in conflict - "I always lie" for example.
A misnomer is a labelling issue. It is a name that suggests something that is not true. Pencil lead, for example, is not lead but graphite, and catgut is not made from cats guts.
A contradiction is a constancy issue. It is saying two things that are not consistent. For example, if person A tells you that Jane is 23 years old, and person B says she is 33 years old, you have a contradiction.
An oxymoron is a word choice issue. It is a figurative construction using apparently contradictory words together. Crash landing is an example.
A crash landing is an oxymoron because a crash and a landing are two different things. The first could easily kill you and the second should not. It is not a contradiction because there is only one piece of of information. It is not a misnomer because nobody expects a crash landing to be gentle, though it could be if the crash landing was indeed very gentle. It is not a paradox because there is no chain of reasoning leading to a conflicting conclusion.