Oxymoron Examples From English Literature
- “Loving hate,” “heavy lightness,” & “cold fire”
-William Shakespeare, “Romeo & Juliet”
“Loving hate,” “heavy lightness,” & “cold fire” are contradictory phrases.
Shakespeare uses these oxymorons to talk about the dualities of love.
2. ”All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”
– George Orwell, “Animal Farm”
True equality doesn’t exist if one class is “more equal” than another.
Oxymoron – Definition with Examples
Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory words are combined with opposing meanings, like “ old news ” or “ organized chaos. ”
The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines an oxymoron as “a phrase that combines two words that seem to be the opposite of each other.” In the Cambridge Dictionary, an oxymoron is defined as “two words or phrases used together that have, or seem to have opposite meanings.”