From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishparadoxpar‧a‧dox /ˈpærədɒks $ -dɑːks/ ●○○ noun 1 [countable]STRANGE a situation that seems strange because it involves two ideas or qualities that are very different It’s a paradox that in such a rich country there can be so much poverty.2 [countable]OPPOSITE/REVERSE a statement that seems impossible because it contains two opposing ideas that are both true The paradox is that fishermen would catch more fish if they fished less.3 [uncountable]OPPOSITE/REVERSE the use of statements that are a paradox in writing or speech —paradoxical /ˌpærəˈdɒksɪkəl◂ $ -ˈdɑːk-/ adjective
Examples from the Corpus
paradox• The recent attacks, in which 17 people were killed and 28 injured, are a paradox for many.• Isn't it a paradox that the airline with the lowest fares is the one with the most customer satisfaction?• There's a paradox in the fact that although we're living longer than ever before, people are more obsessed with health issues than they ever were.• Fortunately, a way out of this apparent paradox exists.• The agony and the ecstasy of the eleventh-hour reprieve illustrated the central paradox of Calvinism.• Solving the infective dose paradox might lead to new strategies for elimination of this preventable pneumonia.• The lek paradox is thus solved at a stroke.• Being defined in terms of tension or paradox, ambiguity's potential diversity was restored to some sort of unitary wholeness.• To explain this seeming paradox, let me refer you to a drawing now found in many introductory psychology textbooks.• It is this paradox, according to Brooks, that is the main point of the poem.Origin paradox (1500-1600) Latin paradoxum, from Greek, from paradoxis “opposite to what is expected” 