Which term describes a contradiction that seems logical but is actually illogical?

Which term describes a contradiction that seems logical but is actually illogical?

• A. Equivocation
• B. Metonymy
• C. Paradox
• D. Synecdoche

Answer: (C)

Paradox is a statement or situation that looks sensible on the surface but conflicts with itself when you think it through, so what seems logical ends up illogical. This captures the idea of a contradiction that seems logical yet isn’t, prompting you to notice the deeper tension or the unusual truth it reveals. For example, sayings like “less is more” feel reasonable about quality over quantity, but taken literally they contradict the ordinary sense of “more.” The other terms point to different figures of speech: equivocation relies on a word with two meanings, metonymy shifts a reference to something associated with it, and synecdoche uses a part to represent the whole or the whole to represent a part. None of these describe a self-contradictory idea in the way a paradox does.

Paradox is a statement or situation that looks sensible on the surface but conflicts with itself when you think it through, so what seems logical ends up illogical. This captures the idea of a contradiction that seems logical yet isn’t, prompting you to notice the deeper tension or the unusual truth it reveals. For example, sayings like “less is more” feel reasonable about quality over quantity, but taken literally they contradict the ordinary sense of “more.” The other terms point to different figures of speech: equivocation relies on a word with two meanings, metonymy shifts a reference to something associated with it, and synecdoche uses a part to represent the whole or the whole to represent a part. None of these describe a self-contradictory idea in the way a paradox does.