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In:What makes a Figure: Rethinking figurativity
Edited by Herbert L. Colston
[Figurative Thought and Language 19] 2025
► pp. 126–159

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Chapter 5
Oxymoron and its interplay with metaphor and irony

 | University of Birmingham |
Published online: 28 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.19.05bar
Abstract
In keeping with the aim of this volume, this chapter seeks to re-think the nature of oxymoron — in particular, the nature of the apparently contradictory quality of oxymora, and the different ways in which a contextually reasonable interpretation of an oxymoron can nevertheless be formed. The chapter mainly addresses oxymoron where that interpretation is formed via metaphor or irony, dubbing these cases as “oxyphoron” and “oxymiron” respectively. The chapter also contends that metaphor as used in oxyphoron, and irony as used in oxymiron, depart from standardly discussed forms of metaphor and irony respectively by involving fruitful optional extras. These are features that are not needed in general for metaphor or irony, but that enhance its effect. The optional extra in the case of the metaphoricity in oxyphoron is a certain sort of resonance between source and target concepts, parallel to a type of resonance that appears in a special, but widespread, type of non-oxymoronic metaphor. The optional extra in the case of the ironicity in oxymiron is the explicit indication of the true state of affairs, again something that appears in special but widespread types of non-oxymoronic irony. In both cases, the optional extras arguably lead to intensification of meaning. More broadly, the considerations in the chapter suggest that oxymoron is more similar to, and interacts more richly with, other figures than usually assumed, and that the study of oxymoron can help to illuminate the nature of other types of figurative language even when it is not interacting with oxymoron.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.What oxymoron is and isn’t
    • 2.1Some dictionary definitions of oxymoron and paradox
    • 2.2Some definitions of oxymoron (and paradox) in the research literature
      • 2.2.1Shen (1987)
      • 2.1.2Colston (2019)
      • 2.1.3Ruiz de Mendoza (2020)
    • 2.3Terminology and preliminary clarifications
    • 2.4The contradiction in oxymoron: Its apparentness, softness and user-relativity
    • 2.5The contradiction and conciliation in oxymoron: How the contraterms are combined
    • 2.6Actual clash versus apparent contradiction
    • 2.7Outcome of the discussion
  • 3.Oxyphoron
    • 3.1The nature of oxyphoron
    • 3.2Positive conceptual resonance in non-oxymoronic metaphor
    • 3.3A further intensification effect of positive resonance on metaphor meaning
    • 3.4Oxyphoron and negative conceptual resonance through metaphor
    • 3.5The cognitive effects of positive and negative conceptual resonance
  • 4.Oxymiron, and other ironicity in oxymoron
    • 4.1The nature of oxymiron
    • 4.2Situational irony within oxymoron
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (41)
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