Oxymora List

A
A Fine Mess, title of a movie
abundant poverty
academic sorority
academic fraternity
a cappella with music
accidentally on purpose
accurate estimate
accurate rumors
accurate stereotype
acrophobic mountain-climbers
act naturally
active retirement
acute apathy
acute dullness
advanced BASIC
advanced beginner
affirmative action
affordable housing
aging yuppie
agree to disagree
agroforestry
agrosilviculture
agrosilvopastoral
A Hard Day’s Night, song title
airline food
airline schedules
a little big
a little pregnant
almost always
almost candid
almost certain
almost exactly
almost impossible
almost never
almost perfect
almost persuaded
almost pregnant
almost safe
almost suddenly
almost surprised
almost totally
Alone Together, title of a book written by Elena Bonner (1986), widow of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Andrei Sakharov
amateur expert
American culture
American education
American English
American Honda
amicable divorce
among the first
Amtrak schedule
anarchy rules
angry patient
anonymous colleague
anticipated serendipity
anticipating the unanticipated
anxious patient
apathetically urged
apathetic interest
approximate solution
approximately equal
arms limitation
army intelligence
arrogant humility
artificial intelligence
astronomically small
athletic scholarship
Aunt Jemima Light
authoritarian anarchy
auto pilot
awfully good
B
baby grand (piano)
Back to the Future, name of a movie
bad health
bad luck
balanced insanity
balding hair
bankrupt millionaire
barely dressed
battle ready
benevolent despot
benign neglect
better than new
beyond infinity
big sip
binging on moderation
biomortia (living dead)
bipartisan cooperation
birth control
birthday suit
bittersweet
black and white in color (The Washington Post, "Book World", February 9, 1992)
black gold
black light
blameless culprit
blending family (when step-parents and their children try to have “a life” in agreement)
blind eye
blue rose
border control
brave politician
brave wimp
brief political speech
brief survey
brilliantly dull
British gourmet food
bright night
bright shade
budget deficit
bug-free code (computer)
build down
bull riding
business casual
business ethics
C
calculated spontaneity
California freeway/expressway
California culture
California style
calm storm
calm winds
camping resort
casual chic, used in “Calvin & Hobbes” (March 24, 1995): “A spotted tie is just the thing when you’re wearing stripes! Tigers have a natural flair for casual chic!”
casual formality
casual intimacy
casual sex
casually concerned
cat fish
cat proof
cavalier concern
Central Intelligence Agency
centrally-planned economy
certainly unsure
chaotic organization
cheap gas
cheerful pessimist
cheerful undertaker
cheerfully mournful
cheerfully cynical
Cherokee Pioneer (name of U.S. car)
chic (geek chic, nerd chic, sloppy chic, trend chic) [based on the sloppy way some people are dressing in tech-work places].
child proof
chilling fever
Chinese chop suey
Christian militia
Christian Scientists
Church of Scientology
CIA cooperation
civil disobedience
civil engineer
civil servants
civil service
civil strife; spoken by Casca in “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
civil war
civilized warfare
Classic New Homes
classic rock & roll
clean air
clean coal
clean dirt
clean kill
clean oil
clean toilet
clear as mud
clearly ambiguous
clearly confused
clearly confusing
clearly misunderstood
clearly obscure
clever fool
Clinton leadership
Clinton’s changing-political positions: “He talks right and runs left.” (Bob Dole)
Clinton principles
cluster bomb
coal-mine safety
co-ed fraternity
co-ed sorority
cold as hell
cold hotdog
cold sweat
cold toast
college education
college student
combative apology
commercial art
committee decision
committee schedule
common sense
communist party
comparatively unique
compassionate editor
completed research
completed website
completely educated
completely unfinished
computer science
computer security
completely succinct in-depth (speech, article, etc.)
compulsory volunteers
Congressional accountability (U.S.)
Congressional action (U.S.)
Congressional cooperation (U.S.)
Congressional ethics (U.S.)
Congressional responsibility (U.S.)
Congressional wisdom (U.S.)
conscripted volunteer
consensual rape
conservative liberal
considerate boss
consistent discrepancies
consistent uncertainties
consistently inconsistent (heard on CNN from a Russian reporter referring to ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, “Zhirinovsky is consistently inconsistent8")
conspicuous absence
conspicuously absent
constant change
constant infrequent
constant variable
constructive ambiguity
constructive criticism
constructive negativity
contra aid
contra assistance
controlled enthusiasm
controlled-market economy
controlled skeptic
convenience store
conventional wisdom
corporate conscience
corporate planning
correctional institution
cosmology is in chaos
corporate family
corporate planning
criminal justice
criminal system
crisis management
cruel kindness
cryocaustic
current history
curved line
customer satisfaction
customer service
D
daily special
dangerously safe
dead right
deafening silence
deaf-piano tuner
death benefits
debugged program
deeper high
defensive strike
definite maybe
degradable plastic
deliberately thoughtless
deliberate mistake
deliberate speed
delicious torment-Ralph Waldo Emerson
demanding patient
Department of the Interior (U.S., responsible for out-door realms)
designer beer
designer jeans
desktop publishing
devout atheist
diet icecream
diligent sloth
diminished confidence
diminutive giants
direct circumvention
disaster preparedness
disciplined gluttony
disco music
disposable income
distant relatives
Divided Unity, author Andreas Glaeser; a book about the unity of Germany
divorce court
Dodge Ram
divorce court
dollar value
domestic cooperation
down escalator
down elevator
dress pants
driving pleasure
dry creek
dry ice
dry humor (British, dry humour)
dry lake
dull acupuncturists
dull roar
dull shine
dynamic monotone
dynamic stability
“Dying is a part of life.”
E
easy labor (childbirth)
easy payments
easy task
easy to follow directions
economic forecast
economic reform
economic stability
educated consumer
educated guess
educational administration
educational television
elected king
elementary calculus
elevated subway
elite rabble
eloquent silence
energetic exhaustion
enough time
entertaining sermon
enthusiastic indifference
enthusiasm (luke-warm enthusiasm)
equal justice
equal opportunity
ergo-friendly keyboard (computer)
ergonomic keyboard
eschew obfuscation
essential luxury
eternal life
ethical hackers
ethnic cleansing
European Community
evaporated milk
even-odd
evolutionary fact
evolutionary technology
exact estimate
exact estimation: “chronoscopy is the observation and exact estimation of time.”
executive secretary
expected serendipity
expected surprise
explicit innuendo
explicitly ambiguous
express bus
express mail
express ways (same as “freeways”)
expressive silence
extensive briefing
extinct life
extremely average
extremely bland
extremely neutral
eyes wide shut
F
faculty cooperation
faculty understanding
fail safe
fairly explicit
fairly obvious
fair reporting
false fact (facts)
family vacation
famous-anonymous (writers, poets, etc.)
farewell reception
fast idle
fast-mail service
fast food
fast turtle
fast waiter
fat-free cream cheese
faultily faultless
fearful bravery -William Shakespeare
federal budget
fiber glass
fiery ice
fighting for peace
filing system
final conclusion
final version
finally again
financially strong savings and loan associations and banks
fire water
firm estimate
firm maybe
first annual
first conclusions
first deadline
first-strike defense
fish farm
flat-busted (breasted)
flexible ethics
flexible freeze (in economics)
flood control
floppy disk
football scholarship
found missing
foreign policy continuity
free love
free prisoner
free society
free with purchase
freezer burn
fresh cheese
fresh dried fruit
fresh frozen
fresh-frozen jumbo shrimp
fresh prunes
fresh raisins
fresh yogurt
fried roast
friendly argument
friendly competitor
friendly divorce
friendly enemy/enemies
friendly fire (from one’s own military side); formerly, or officially, referred to as “fratricide”.
friendly fire (forests, etc.)
friendly rocket death
friendly suit (legal)
friendly takeover
friendly war
front end
frozen food
Frugal Gourmet
full service
full-time hobby
functional illiterate
future history
fuzzy logic
G
gargantuan lilliputian
gay Christians
gay marriage
gay priests
genuine fake
genuine imitation
genuine-imitation leather
glacier-like rapidity
global village
good garbage
good graft
good grief
good junk
good lawyer
good profanity
good stuff
gourmet hamburger
gourmet pizza
gourmet sandwich
government aid
government efficiency
government integrity
government organization
government worker
graduate student
Grape Nuts
graphic language
Great Britain
great depression
gregarious recluse
green blackberries
green manufacturing
green oranges
grotesque beauty
growing small
guest host
guaranteed forecast
guest host
gummily brittle
gunboat diplomacy
H
half true
half dead
half empty
half full
half naked
hard pillow
hard water
happy apathy
happy demise
happy fault
happy Monday
happy pessimist
hard pillow
hard water
harmless abuse
harmless pollution
harmonious discord
hasten slowly
health-care system
healthful-city environment
heifer bull (a smaller bull to breed a young cow)
Hell’s Angels
highly visible covert operation
hilarious funeral
history of the future
hollow point
holy hell
holy land
Holy Roman Empire
holy wars
home office
honest bureaucratic snafu
honest convict
honest crook
honest graft
honest insurance companies
honest insurance companies
honest liar
honest politician
honest thief
Hong Kong (said to originally mean “fragrant harbor” in reference to the stench from the dumping of raw waste)
hopeful pessimist
hopelessly optimistic
hospital food
horribly decent
hot ice
House Ethics Committee
huge market niche
humane robotics
human robot
hypothetical situations
I
IBM compatible
IBM-Apple compatible
idiot savant (singular)
idiots savants (plural)
idly laborious
ill fortune
ill health
important trivia
immigration control
Incompatibility, Grounds for a Great Marriage (title of a book by Charles and Barbara Snyder)
incomplete cure
incredibly real
increasing declines
increasingly little
indifferently attentive
indirect communication
industrial park
inexpensive medical care
Information Superhighway
industrial park
initial conclusion
initial results
initial retirement
innocent bureaucratic blunder (President Bill Clinton describing White House mandated FBI investigation of high-ranking Republicans and others)
ironwood
inside out
insincere thanks
insincere vow
instant classic
instant folk hero
intelligent fight
intelligent news coverage
intense apathy
intense disinterest
interested students
internal exile
Internal Revenue Service
interstate highways in Hawaii
intimate murder
intimate strangers
invisible ink
irate patient
J
journalistic accuracy
journalistic integrity
jumbo shrimp
junior senator
junk bonds
junk food
just war
justifiable genocide
justifiably paranoid
justified rape
K
known-covert operation
kosher ham
L
lady-mud wrestler
laid-back compulsive
land developer
land development
larger half
lasting aid
law brief
lead balloon
lean pork
least favorite
legal brief
legal ethics
legal justice
legally drunk
legitimate conspiracy
legitimate politics
lesser evil
less is more
liberal conservative
liberal fundamentalists
light armor
light-heavyweight
limited immunity
limited incursion
linear curve
liquid crystal
liquid gas
liquid metal
liquid paper
liquid smoke
literal interpretation
literary illiterates
little big
little big horn
little bit big
little deceptive
little giant
live recording
live television
living dead
living death -John Milton
living end
living fossil
local long distance
local network
locks on 7-11 stores which are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
long recess
long sleeve t-shirt
loose tights
loud whisper
loquacious librarian
loss prevention specialist
love-hate relationship
low-intensity conflict
low-fat icecream
lower inflation
low insurance rates
loyal opposition
luke-warm enthusiasm
luxury beer
luxury bus
M
macro-microorganism
mail delivery
major minority
male compassion
man child
mandatory option(s)
many-breasted Amazon
martial law
maternity fashion
mature student
meaningful nonsense
meaningful-overnight relationship
meatless meat
Medicaid payments
medium large
medium well
micro-mainframe
Microsoft Works
Middle East peace
mild abrasive
mild cigar
mild interest
Middle East peace progress
mildly psychotic
militant pacifist
military accountability
military intelligence (used in Catch 22 by J. Heller)
military justice
military peace
military system
mind-expanding drugs
mini jumbo
minor disaster
minor miracle
minor surgery
mobile home
mobile house
mobile station
modern history
modern maturity
modestly arrogant
modified-final judgement
monoglottal babble
Montana Freemen
moral majority
morbid humor
more unique
most unique
motorcycle safety
mournful optimist
mud bath
mute sound
mutually exclusive
N
nameless celebrity
nasty politeness
national medicare program
natural artifact
natural makeup
natural synthetic
near miss
nearly complete
neat office
negative gain
negative growth
negative momentum
Neolithic (New Stone Age) period
never again
never generalize
new and improved
new antique
new classic
new cliche
New Mexico
new routine
new used cars
New York culture
nice and sleazy
noble savage
noiseless sound
noisy mime
non-alcoholic beer
non-alcoholic wine
non-dairy creamer
non-denominational church
non-fat cream
non-fat ice cream
non-intervention intervention (Expressed on CNBC by Nick Hastings regarding the European Central Bank’s purchase of over two billion dollars of Euros; September 15, 2000).
non-profit organizations
non-stick glue
non-stick gum
non-stick velcro
non-stop flight
non-working mother
normal deviation
normal espionage
normal human
O
obedient defiance
objective opinion
objective parent
objective rating
obscene art
obvious secret
oddly appropriate
oddly natural
old news
100%+
one size fits all
only choice
on time flight
on time train
open secret
operating system (computer)
orderly confusion
organized anarchy
organized chaos
organized committee
organized confusion
organized mess
original copy/copies
original reprint