Sharp stupidity - that's what an oxymoron is, translated from the ancient Greek language. This is, as it were, an erroneous stylistic figure that uses words with polar opposite meanings.
And what is an oxymoron
The combination of the incompatible in all the contradiction of meanings. But purely psychologically, an oxymoron helps to clarify the most confusing, inexplicable situations. A brightly colored stylistic figure often takes root in speech so much that people stop flinching and being surprised when they hear an oxymoron.
Examples - an oxymoron caught on
Very often and rather mundane are the characteristics: a courageous woman, a feminine man, an honest swindler (Mavrodi), a humane flayer (poisoned a dog in the park so that the children would not be afraid), intelligent banditry (the policy of the United States), and even the Old new year as a phrase does not surprise anyone at all.
Classic oxymorons
Even more often oxymorons are invented. After all, what is an oxymoron? This, among other things, is an indicator of the presence of a sense of humor in a speaker or writer. Surely everyone will smile when they hear or read this: harm and do good, funny commemoration - they broke three button accordions. Therefore, not only the writing people 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 "Ordinary Miracle".
Modern oxymorons
However, many modern oxymorons are born with a claim to survive: unpaid wages no longer surprise anyone. And elegant nudity not only amazes, but also delights with poetics. Life goes into an endless dead end. Buy book-entry securities! Life-giving euthanasia of the Russian language. Innovative traditions are indestructible! "Optimistic Tragedy" guarantees that and "Eyes Wide Shut". Daria Dontsova is especially creative in this regard. Almost every title of her books is an oxymoron. This is a fairly common literary device in modern literature, when the contradiction of meanings helps to quickly understand the meaning of the described phenomenon and remember it more firmly. And the stylistic effect is obvious: the oxymoron is even used in special psychological trainings to liberate "childhood" inside an adult. Remember Chukovsky: a terrible giant - who is this? Cockroach, just.
Neologisms
The main condition for creating an oxymoron is a deliberate characterinternal contradiction in the phrase. Virtual reality is one of the most successful oxymorons of our time. An honest thief can also refer not only to Detochkin, but also to Navalny. And a fair trial! Old news is an excellent definition of information in the age of high technology. 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 that the definition is on point. So we figured out what an oxymoron is.
