Definition
The definition of oxymoron is “a figure of speech which combines incongruous and apparently contradictory words and meanings for special effect.”
Cuddon, J. A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. 3rd ed., Oxford, Blackwell
Reference, 1991.
Informal Definition
An oxymoron is a literary device that combines two contradictory words, which are usually an adjective and a noun, For example, “jumbo shrimp” is an oxymoron because the word jumbo, meaning “large,” is being used to describe the word shrimp, meaning “small” or “puny.”
Etymology
The word “oxymoron” comes from the greek prefix oxys “sharp, pointed” + moros “stupid, moronic.” In Greek, the word roughly translates to “sharp moron,” which means that the translation of the term is an oxymoron in it of itself.
"Oxymoron." Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001,
www.etymonline.com/search?q=oxymoron&ref=searchbar_searchhint. Accessed 29
Aug. 2022.
Lincoln Ulman