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What's the opposite of oxymoron? That is, two words put together that seem identical?

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Are you looking for pleonasm? –  Alain Pannetier Φ Jan 29 '12 at 23:20
The opposite of oxymoron would be two words that are perfectly compatible with each other, not identical. –  JeffSahol Jan 30 '12 at 2:49

4 Answers 4

Merriam-Webster says:

oxymoron, noun : a combination for epigrammatic effect of contradictory or incongruous words

pleonasm, noun : the coincident use of a word and its substitute for the same grammatical function

tautology, noun : needless or meaningless repetition in close succession of an idea, statement, or word

I'm not quite sure how the use of one word can be coincident with another per M-W's definition, but looking at pleonasms.com, one sees these nuggets:

anonymous stranger

basic fundamentals

empty hole


I'd say pleonasm comes the closest to being the antonym of oxymoron, in spirit if not in truth.

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Try tautology. @alain-pannetier also made a good suggestion in the comments with pleonasm. The Wikipedia page explains the difference.

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As the wikipedia page for pleonasm explains, a tautology is very general, whereas a pleonasm is a redundancy in terms. An oxymoron is a contradiction in terms, so it would seem that pleonasm is the more appropriate antonym. Then again, wikipedia is all made up. –  Mitch Jan 30 '12 at 0:45
"redundancy" isn't quite an antonym for "contradiction", though... –  Karl Knechtel Jan 30 '12 at 2:43
@KarlKnechtel That is the problem with the question, though...will add comment to OP. –  JeffSahol Jan 30 '12 at 2:49
Doh, the word "but" is hugely powerful and I should use it with more care. Edited accordingly. –  Lunivore Jan 30 '12 at 9:07

These are nice, but only somewhat related to what I assume the original question is getting at, that is if an good example of an oxymoron is an expression that involves both a punned contradiction and an ironic contrast to the original term; the opposite or the reverse of an oxymoron might be an expression which involves a pun and an ironic reinforcement of the original meaning of the expression. If "military intelligence" is a good oxymoron, "contempt of Congress" might be an example of the opposite.

pleonasm and tautology imply reinforcement and redundancy, but paronomasia doesn't.

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There is no opposite, the word internalizes opposites, its own contradictions. It'd be like making a black & white negative image of a chessboard.

An oxymoron ... is a paradox compressed into a single self-contradicting phrase, and therefore the show-off among figures of speech. / Helen Vendler, The Music of What Happens 1988

... the discord of the oxymoron. Basil L Gildersleeve, Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes

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What are you hoping to tell us? This doesn't seem to answer the question. –  Matt Эллен Jul 11 '12 at 10:51
I tried to clean up the answer. I had always been interested in the back story of how the word swiftly become a pet term in the mainstream press in the eighties, perhaps through Vonnegut's and Ashbery's example - and went a bit afield on that. –  jitard Jul 11 '12 at 19:05

protected by Jasper Loy Jul 11 '12 at 11:40


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