Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 29, 2023 is: oxymoron \ahk-sih-MOR-ahn\ noun

An oxymoron is a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings, such as “cruel kindness” or “open secret.” In broader usage, oxymoron can also refer to something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or [incongruous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incongruous) elements.

// Her favorite Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, is filled with clever wordplay, including oxymorons such as “sweet sorrow” and “heavy lightness.”

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oxymoron)

Examples:

“Until now I thought ‘enjoyable science book’ was an oxymoron. [Author, Katie] Spalding proved me wrong. I learned a lot and had fun doing it. Turns out a spoonful of snark helps the factoids go down—in a most delightful way.” — Curt Schleier, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 19 May 2023

Did you know?

The ancient Greeks exhaustively classified the elements of [rhetoric](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric), or effective speech and writing, and gave the name oxymoron—literally "pointed foolishness"—to the deliberate juxtaposing of seemingly contradictory words. The roots of oxymoron, oxys meaning "sharp" or "keen," and mōros meaning "foolish," are nearly [antonyms](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antonym) themselves, making oxymoron nicely self-descriptive. Oxymoron originally applied to a meaningful [paradox](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paradox) condensed into a couple of words, as in "precious [bane](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bane)," "lonely crowd," or "sweet sorrow." Today, however, what is commonly cited as an oxymoron is often simply a curiosity of language, where one or both elements have multiple meanings ([shrimp](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrimp) in "jumbo shrimp" doesn't mean "small"; it refers to a sea creature), or a phrase whose elements seem antithetical in spirit, such as "organized chaos."