Oxymoron

(n.) A figure in which an epithet of a contrary signification is added to a word; e. g., cruel kindness; laborious idleness.

Thesaurus Entries

Gordian knot, absurdity, ambiguity, ambivalence, antinomy, asymmetry, crux, dilemma, disproportion, disproportionateness, enigma, equivocality, equivocation, heresy, heterodoxy, heterogeneity, hopelessness, impossibility, impossible, impossibleness, incoherence, incommensurability, incompatibility, inconceivability, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, irony, irreconcilability, knot, knotty point, no chance, node, nodus, nonconformability, nonconformity, nonplus, paradox, perplexity, pons asinorum, poser, puzzle, quandary, self-contradiction, teaser, the impossible, unconformability, unconformity, unimaginability, unorthodoxy, unthinkability, vexed question, what cannot be, what cannot happen