The meaning of the word "oxymoron. Oxymoron - what is it, examples in Russian, as well as the correct stress and difference from oxymoron (or asemoron)

0 After in the previous article, I talked about such a funny word as Aksemora, the meaning and origin of the term, it’s time to tell in more detail about the founder of this jargon. On our site you can find many answers to your questions on such topics, like street slang, English jargon, prison argot and more. Therefore, do not forget to bookmark us. Well, today, as I said above, we will talk about the "founder" of Axemor, the word Oxymoron, which means you can read a little later.
However, before I continue, I would like to recommend a couple more interesting publications on the topics of science and education. For example, what does Morpheus mean, what is the Prerogative, how to understand the word Leviathan, who are the Illuminati, etc.
So let's continue what does oxymoron mean translation? This term got into the Russian language from German " Oxymoron", which was borrowed from the ancient Greek" ὀξύ-μωρον ", and literally translates as" acute stupidity ".

Oxymoron- the word denotes an extremely ridiculous expression consisting of conflicting concepts

Oxymoron is a combination of two words, often opposite in meaning, for example "hot as ice"

Sometimes some not very literate users write this term, how " axemoron", which is fundamentally wrong. Some people wonder what Oxymoron is, and why was it invented at all?

Usually an oxymoron is used when they want to draw the reader's attention to some detail. For example, the expression "living corpse", or "cold rage" makes some people fall into a stupor. They have a question, is this even possible? For others, such a statement can cause unexpected and strange associations, and for some it can cause a smile.

In what situations is Oxymoron commonly used? Usually, its use is justified in those cases where it is necessary to draw attention to your person or work in a few words. Therefore, similar phrases can be found in the titles of various books, films and even theatrical performances.

After your consciousness stumbles upon such dizzying turns of speech, the brain begins to actively engage in work, trying to imagine the unimaginable, while the right hemisphere, which in a person is responsible for creativity, turns on. But it is for this that filmmakers or writers come up with such " screaming"headlines so that you have an interest in their work.

In addition, such imaginative thinking is inherent in poets, it is such intricate phrases that give a special piquancy to their creations.

Examples of Oxymoron in verse

Poets, using oxymoron in their works, try to ensure that two words have lost their original meaning, and as a result they have created something unusual, completely new. This means that a person should have an urgent need to read this work, watch a film, and read and re-read poetry endlessly. Great help for any creator, isn't it?

Sometimes the word Oxymoron is used to thicken colors, for example " kind cruelty“or“ loud silence. ”For a long time, people have been circulating a catch phrase -“ brevity is the sister of talent. ”And it is this feature that is inherent in Oxymoron, since it always consists of two words, there is nowhere to shorter.
In any work, such a phrase gives a certain special convexity, has a certain effect of surprise. Sometimes a logical paradox arises before the readers of a poem, and everyone is free for themselves to draw only their own conclusions.

By the way, have you heard about such a word as " tragicomedy"? I'm sure I've heard that there is a clear trace of oxymoron in it because the word contradicts itself. In general, such expressions are usually created by people with a creative" streak ", so such words are usually used by stylists, fashionistas, intellectuals, painters and similar fraternity.

Among people who work in the field of creating advertising, the oxymoron is in great demand, because they are very easy to remember, and they are so ingrained into the consciousness of an individual that he cannot "get rid" of him for weeks.
By the way, did you know that even builders use an oxymoron without even knowing it, for example, "liquid nails", there is a funny liquid that is used for tricks and gags, the so-called " dry water", developed in the USA in 2004.

Do you want more examples on the topic Oxymoron? I have them, moreover, at the end of the article I will make a large selection. Now let's do a retrospective, and try to find these funny expressions in the past.
There were a lot of similar phrases in the USSR, although for the most part they did not cause discomfort to anyone, for example, "public property". Today we are all accustomed to the fact that property can be exclusively personal, but the advice was different. Indeed, if we consider this expression more broadly, we will find out that the word "property" is perfectly suited to such concepts as "isolation", "separation", and the public is indivisible. There is a clear contradiction here.

Many citizens who were born in the USSR probably remember the phrase " honorary duty", which modern adolescents simply do not fit into the head. A little later, in the midst of democracy, a well-established concept arose as" unpaid wages, "but the word payment implies an already accomplished action.

Many books use oxymoron in their titles, I will give you some interesting examples:

"Honest Thief" Blik
"Blinding Darkness" Koestler
"Unbearable lightness being "Kundera
"Old New Year"Fanailova
"Endless dead end" Galkovsky
"Hot Snow"Bondarev
"Living relics" Turgenev
"An Honest Thief" Dostoevsky
"The young lady-peasant" Pushkin
"Rich beggar" Martynov
"Up the stairs leading down" Kaufman
"Eloquent Silence" Brown
"End of Eternity" Asimov
"An ordinary miracle" Schwartz
"Optimistic tragedy" Vishnevsky
"Living Corpse" Tolstoy
"Dead Souls" Gogol
"My adult childhood" by Gurchenko

In some poems, poets use contradictory and even paradoxical phrases to enhance the effect.

Well, now, I want to offer you examples of Oxymorons that I really liked, and I decided to collect them in one place:

outspoken politics
Swiss refugee
irrepressible quiet
bitter happiness
amorphous activist
happy pessimist
affectionate bastard
powerful impotence
wavy surface
complex simplicity
screaming silence
fun to be sad
silent scream
married bachelor
little giant
endless limit
unanimous differences
voluntary violence
sincere liar
summer coat
true lie
original copies
dull shine
ringing silence
a virtual reality
sweet tears
sweet bitterness
old New Year
liquid Nails
sad joy
scary handsome
honest politician
cloudy clarity
soft hardness
stubborn consent
public secret
clumsy grace
sworn friend
long moment
chilling ardor
falling up
flaming ice
dexterous muddler
well-bred boor
benevolent enemy
drink to health
insolent modesty
demoniac

Means of speech such as metaphor, absurdity, paradox, irony, become especially relevant in difficult periods of social upheaval. Among them, an oxymoron occupies an important place. It is still a poorly understood phenomenon.

Mutually exclusive concepts

The combination of mutually exclusive independent concepts forms an oxymoron. Examples from fiction this is confirmed by: “non-obvious obvious” (Goethe), “smartly naked” (A. Akhmatova), “joy of suffering” (A. Fet), “unbearable lightness of being” (M. Kundera).

Oxymoron represents two adjacent concepts, where one of them defines the other. They mutually repel, contradict and logically exclude each other: "low skyscraper", "unbearable charm", "irrepressible quiet man", "turn to hell." Oxymoron in the Russian language was initially perceived as "an incorrect combination of ideas into one whole" (N. Ostolopov, 1821). But he was independently present in literature, although his interpretations in dictionaries appeared only at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Bright artistic turn

By putting two events denying each other side by side, which is not easy to do because of psychological inertia, we can create an oxymoron. The text, containing only 2 words, reveals the internal contradictions between the phenomena, uniting the incompatible.

The oxymoron represents a beautiful and thoughtful artistic turnover... An oxymoron is often used in the titles of the works of the classics. Examples from fiction: Endless Dead End, Hot Snow, End of Eternity. Among the poets, it sounds unusual and bright: “I was bitter in delight” (A. Akhmatova), “sad joy” (S. Yesenin). The deliberate combination of concepts opposite in meaning in it is obvious, but a new semantic unity is also revealed. In this case, the effect of the phrase is significantly enhanced.

Fighting definitions

In oxymorons, the semantic content is suppressed by the emotional. For example, in the combinations "charming freak", "poor luxury", the second concept decreases in importance at the expense of the first. The word "poor" has a weak subject-logical meaning, and to a greater extent is a subjective assessment of luxury. But the assessment can have a purely emotional connotation, for example, in the expression "Awfully happy!" And in combination "small great person»The epithet completely changes the meaning of the next compound word to the opposite. Without this emotional assessment, the phrase will not sound as effective. Combining opposites creates a certain stylistic effect. Emotional definition is often used as a metaphor, for example, in the expression "sad to be fun."

Deliberately creating internal contradiction

In oxymorons, concepts exclude each other, but at the same time they are in harmony and highlight internal semantic contradictions. If, in a combination of two components, there are no two different types of meanings at the same time: emotional and subject-logical, then this turns out to be a logical mistake, and not the realization of an artistic goal. Their inappropriate use also cannot create an oxymoron. Its main function is to express the relationship to the event. It is impossible to explain the essence of the interpretation if the author does not understand what he is talking about.

The deliberate creation of internal contradiction gives rise to an oxymoron. The combination "white crow" is a catachreza - a stylistic mistake, since there is no contradiction in it. Most likely, this is a wrong combination of incompatible concepts. The word "shoot" previously meant that a bow or crossbow was used as a weapon. Nobody says, “Let the bullet out of the gun,” although that would be more correct. The expression "colored linen" has become commonplace, and at first it was only white.

Not every pair of incompatible concepts constitutes an oxymoron. Examples from fiction show that even the great classics, like L. Tolstoy, can make mistakes: "... leaning on his arm ... his head ...". Here the usual stylistic error.

In russian language

Unlike catachresis, the oxymoron is paradoxical. They try to find a solution through it, combining the “smart with the stupid”, creating “deliberate accident” or moving “back into the future”. In a psychological sense, it is the only way resolving a situation where "water and flame must exist together."

Oxymoron contains a whole set of speech: irony, metaphor, paradox, allusion. The most common environment for his "habitation" is poetry. Oxymoron is found there most of all to create a comic effect. This is natural, since paradoxical information provokes a reaction in the form of laughter.

At the first perception, due to the emphasized illogicality, the oxymoron has a particularly high significance. Examples from fiction: "full of wild, menacing caress" (E. Baratynsky), "innocent passion" (F. Tyutchev). Once in use, oxymorons lose their sharpness and turn into ordinary metaphors. Some of them are dynamic in time, they can revive again, overcoming stereotypes in new forms. Others remain firmly in the role of metaphors: "the blue blizzards have burned out", "the blue sea is boiling" (S. Yesenin).

Thus, the means of expressiveness in the Russian language can change their roles.

Where is the oxymoron hidden?

Oxymorons can be found in the most unexpected cases, for example, in genre designations: "tragicomedy", "novel in verse." The "unpaid salary" sounds paradoxical. Artists often use the technique of combining the incongruous. For this, other means are used: the ratio of sizes, the sharpness of silhouettes, the intensity of colors and lines, cartoons.

Conclusion

The oxymoron is based on a two-pronged opposition, creating a single integral phenomenon out of the relationship of opposites. It can be a simple technique of word usage, as well as one of the ways of understanding and displaying reality.

It is a kind of erroneous stylistic figure using words with polar opposite meanings.

And what else is an oxymoron

The combination of the incongruous in all the contradiction of meanings. But psychologically, an oxymoron helps to clarify the most confusing, inexplicable situations. The brightly colored one often takes root in speech so much that people stop flinching and wondering when they hear the oxymoron.

Examples - an oxymoron stuck

Very often and quite ordinary characteristics sound: courageous woman, feminine man, honest con man(Mavrodi) , humane flayer(poisoned the dog in the park so that the children would not be afraid) , intelligent banditry(policy of the United States), and as a phrase does not surprise anyone at all.

Classic oxymorons

Even more often they come up with oxymorons. After all, what is an oxymoron? It is, among other things, an indicator of the presence of the speaker or writer. Surely everyone will smile upon hearing or reading this: to harm and do good, merry commemoration - three button accordions broke. Therefore, not only the writing people try 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", "Gaping heights" or " An ordinary miracle".

Modern oxymorons

However, many modern oxymorons are born with a pretense to survive: unpaid salary already surprises no one. A smart nudity not only amazes, but also delights with poetics. Life goes into endless dead end... Buy uncertified securities ! Life-giving euthanasia Russian language. A pioneering tradition indestructible! " Optimistic tragedy"this is a guarantee and" WITH wide closed eyes ". Especially creative in this regard, Daria Dontsova. Almost every title of her books is an oxymoron. This is quite common in modern literature when the contradiction of meanings helps to quickly grasp the meaning of the described phenomenon and remember it more firmly. And the stylistic effect is obvious: the oxymoron is even used in trainings for the emancipation of "childishness" inside an adult. Remember Chukovsky: a terrible giant - who is this? A cockroach, just.

Neologisms

The main condition for the creation of an oxymoron is the deliberate nature of the internal contradiction in the phrase. A virtual reality - one of the most successful oxymorons of our time. Honest thief- also can already relate not only to Detochkin, but also to Navalny. And already fair trial! Old news- excellent definition of information in the age of high technology. Oxymoron as such is not even quite a definition, it is very close to action. Therefore, especially gifted writers came up with a neologism: oxymoron, for example. Sounds great: reforms oxymorize... The main thing is that everyone understands everything, which means that the definition is to the point. So we figured out what an oxymoron is.

An oxymoron is characterized by the deliberate use of contradiction to create a stylistic effect. From a psychological point of view, an oxymoron is a way to resolve an unexplained situation.

Examples of

Oxymoron is often used in the titles of prosaic literary works("Hot Snow", "Living Corpse", "Dead Souls", "Unbearable Lightness of Being", "Endless Dead End", "End of Eternity"), films ("An Ordinary Miracle", "Eyes Wide Shut", "True Lie "," Little giant of big sex "," Tomorrow was a war "," Bad good man "," Grown children "," Dead Poets Society "," Back to the Future "), musical groups (Led Zeppelin -" lead airship ", Blind Guardian - "blind guard", Orgy of the Righteous), video games (LittleBigPlanet).
Oxymorons are used to describe objects that combine the opposite qualities: "masculine woman", "feminine boy".
In the novel "Foucault's Pendulum", the heroes of Umberto Eco fantasize about the "university of comparative unnecessary" with the department of oxymoristics. As the subjects of study of this department, the author cites "urbanism of nomadic tribes", "folk oligarchy", "innovative traditions", "dialectics of tautology", etc.
The title of the holiday is "Old New Year".
Oxymorons are often used in advertising and not always in good faith. For example, the expression "investing in the Forex market" is an example of a professional oxymoron, since the private foreign exchange market by its nature cannot be an object of investment, only speculation (in the economic literature there is often an attempt to separate speculation and investment; however, there is no consensus. For more details, see the article "investments").
The very word "oxymoron" (lit. "witty-stupid") is an oxymoron. (See Recursion).

It is necessary to distinguish between oxymorons and stylistic combinations of words that characterize different qualities: so, for example, the phrase “sweet bitterness” is an oxymoron, and “poisonous honey”, “found loss”, “sweet torment” are stylistic combinations.

Write a review on the article "Oxymoron"

Notes (edit)

Links

in the Literary Encyclopedia
E. Repin, N. Repina.
Nikolaev A.I. // Nikolaev A.I. Fundamentals of literary criticism: tutorial for students of philological specialties. - Ivanovo: LISTOS, 2011 .-- S. 140-147.



Shapes

Trails

Excerpt from Oxymoron

“Many, many,” answered Rostov. - Why are you gathered here? He added. - A holiday, eh?
- The old men gathered for worldly affairs, - answered the man, moving away from him.
At that time, on the road from the manor house, two women and a man in a white hat appeared, walking towards the officers.
- In my pink, mind you not beating! - said Ilyin, noticing Dunyasha decisively moving towards him.
- Ours will be! - Lavrushka said to Ilyin with a wink.
- What, my beauty, do you need? - said Ilyin, smiling.
- The princess was ordered to find out what regiment you are and your surnames?
- This is Count Rostov, squadron commander, and I am your humble servant.
- Be ... se ... e ... du ... shka! - chanted a drunken man, smiling happily and looking at Ilyin, talking with the girl. Alpatych followed Dunyasha up to Rostov, taking off his hat from a distance.
“I dare to disturb you, your honor,” he said with respect, but with relative disdain for the officer’s youth, and clasped his hand in his bosom. - My mistress, the daughter of the general in chief of Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, who died this fifteenth, being in difficulty due to the ignorance of these persons, - he pointed to the peasants, - he asks you to welcome ... wouldn’t you please, - Alpatych said with a sad smile, - drive off somewhat, but it’s not so convenient when ... - Alpatych pointed to two men who were running around behind him like horseflies near a horse.
- Ah! .. Alpatych ... Huh? Yakov Alpatych! .. Important! forgive for Christ's sake. Important! Huh? .. - said the men, smiling happily at him. Rostov looked at the drunken old men and smiled.
- Or, perhaps, it consoles your Excellency? - said Yakov Alpatych with a sedate air, pointing out the old people with his hand not tucked in his bosom.
"No, there is little consolation here," said Rostov and drove off. - What's the matter? - he asked.
- I dare to report to your Excellency that the rude local people do not want to release the mistress from the estate and threaten to reject the horses, so that in the morning everything is packed and her Excellency cannot leave.
- Can not be! - Rostov cried out.
- I have the honor to report to you the real truth, - repeated Alpatych.
Rostov dismounted and, handing it over to the messenger, went with Alpatych to the house, asking him about the details of the case. Indeed, yesterday's offer of the princess to the peasants of bread, her explanation with Dron and with the gathering spoiled the matter so much that Dron finally handed over the keys, joined the peasants and did not appear at the request of Alpatych, and that in the morning, when the princess ordered to lay in order to go, the peasants came out in a large crowd to the barn and sent to say that they would not let the princess out of the village, that there was an order not to be taken out, and they would unharness the horses. Alpatych went out to them, advising them, but they answered him (Karp spoke most of all; Dron did not appear from the crowd) that the princess could not be released, that there was an order for that; and that let the princess stay, and they will serve her in the old way and obey in everything.
At the moment when Rostov and Ilyin galloped along the road, Princess Marya, in spite of the dissuading Alpatych, the nanny and the girls, ordered the mortgage and wanted to go; but, seeing the cavalrymen galloping by, they were mistaken for the French, the coachmen fled, and the weeping of women arose in the house.
- Father! dear father! God sent you, - said the tender voices, while Rostov passed through the hall.
Princess Marya, lost and powerless, was sitting in the hall, while Rostov was brought in to her. She did not understand who he was, and why he was, and what would happen to her. Seeing his Russian face and recognizing him as a man of her circle by his entrance and the first words spoken, she looked at him with her deep and radiant gaze and began to speak in a voice that broke off and trembled with emotion. Rostov immediately imagined something romantic in this meeting. "Defenseless, heartbroken a girl, alone, left to the mercy of rude, rebellious men! And some strange fate pushed me here! Thought Rostov, listening to her and looking at her. - And what gentleness, nobility in her features and expression! - he thought, listening to her timid story.

Oxymoron, oxymoron is a stylistic figure consisting of a combination of the incompatible in meaning; contradictory unity, a kind of paradox. Oxymoron is also considered a kind of antithesis, but antithesis is the opposition of concepts and phenomena, their fundamental differentiation, i.e. its function is actually the opposite of that of the Oxymoron. Oxymoron is often used in poetry.

Examples of using Oxymoron:

A.S. Pushkin - "my sadness is light" ("On the hills of Georgia lies the night haze ...", 1829), "I love the lush wilting of nature" ("Autumn", 1833), A.A. Akhmatova - "spring autumn "(" An unprecedented autumn built a high dome ... ", 1922)," So ceremonially naked "(" Without a hero ", 1940-62). Oxymoron often becomes the titles: "The English Spaniard" (1613) M. Servantes, " Dead Souls"(1842) N.V. Gogol," Leaves of Grass "(1855) by W. Whitman," Living Corpse "(1900) by Leo Tolstoy. Oxymoric genre designation “prose poem”. For modern times, Oxymoron is a "novel in verse", as well as a "story in verse" that arose in Russia in the 18th century and became the most important genre for romantics. Oxymoron can arise unintentionally as stylistic negligence. In M.Yu. Lermontov's poem "Dream" (1841), "a familiar corpse" is, in essence, an oxymoron, which would have looked comical if it were not for the deep tragedy of the general tone and the atmosphere not characteristic of sleep, blurring the boundaries between imagination and reality, life and death.

Synesthesia is close to Oxymoron- combining impressions received by different senses. In Russia, V.A. Zhukovsky began to practice it widely. The elegy "Evening" (1806) is indicative: "Oh, the quiet of the brooding skies ... (actually oxymoric synesthesia). In BL Pasternak's work, the sun “covered the neighboring forest with hot ocher ...” (“August”, 1953) - a metaphorical synesthesia. Among prose writers, V.V. Nabokov showed great interest in synesthesia.

The word "oxymoron" comes from Greek oxymoron, which means witty-stupid.