OXYMORON

n oxymoron (plural oxymora (greek plural) or, more often, oxymorons)("sharply dull" in Greek) is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms. They appear in a range of contexts, from inadvertent errors such as extremely average, to deliberate puns like same difference, to literary oxymorons that have been carefully crafted to reveal a paradox.

The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective-noun combination. For example, the following line from Tennyson's Idylls of the King contains two oxymora:

"And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true."

Less often seen is noun-verb combinations such as the line

"The silence whistles"

Top 52 Oxymorons: 

52.    Honest Lawyer 

51.    Jumbo Shrimp 

50.    Act naturally

49.    Found missing

48.    Resident alien

47.    Advanced BASIC 

46.    Genuine imitation

45.    Airline Food 

44.    Good grief

43.    Same difference

42.    Almost exactly

41.    Government organization

40.    Sanitary landfill 

39.    Alone together

38.    Legally drunk 

37.    Silent scream 

36.    British fashion

35.    Living dead

34.    Small crowd 

33.    Business ethics

32.    Soft rock

31.    Butt Head

30.    Military Intelligence

29.    Software documentation

28.    New York culture

27.    New classic

26.    Sweet sorrow

25.    Childproof

24.    "Now, then ..." 

23.    Synthetic natural gas 

22.    Christian Scientists 

21.    Passive aggression 

20.    Taped live

19.    Clearly misunderstood

18.    Peace force

17.    Extinct Life 

16.    Temporary tax increase

15.    Computer jock

14.    Plastic glasses 

13.    Terribly pleased

12.    Computer security

11.    Political science

10.    Tight slacks 

9.     Definite maybe

8.     Pretty ugly

7.     Twelve-ounce pound cake  

6.     Diet ice cream 

5.     Rap music 

4.     Working vacation 

3.     Exact estimate 

2.     Religious tolerance

1.     Microsoft Works