Technological oxymora:
paper table-cloths
green blackboards (AKA: “chalk boards”)
metal wood
plastic silverware (glasses, wood)
Should oxymoronic strings, like the double-play “fresh frozen jumbo shrimp”, be accorded special mention? What about triple plays in which all three words interact; such as, “permanent guest host”?
While the forms that oxymora assume are far from infinite, they are intriguingly varied. The boundaries separating one category from another blur and shift even as we draw them, but the lines can be useful. As all taxonomists should know, it is not always easy to know where the front of a horse ends and the back begins, but we usually can perceive the difference between a horse’s head and a horse’s rear end.
—
Source Lederer, Richard. “Oxymoronology.”
Word Ways, Vol. 23, No. 2; May 1990, pp. 102-105.
You may find extensive lists of oxymora with a simple click.
oxymoron (singular):
Sharp, keen plus foolish, dull; pronounced [ahk" si MOH rahn], from Greek, oxy-, “point, sharp” and moron, “foolish”]. A rhetorical figure by which contradictory or incongruous terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement or expression; an expression, in its superficial or literal meaning self-contradictory or absurd, but involving a point.
A well-known example of literary oxymora is Tennyson’s “Lancelot and Elaine”:
The shackles of an old love straiten’d him
His honour rooted in dishonour stood,
and faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
oxymoronic:
Suggestive of oxymoron; incongruous, self-contradictory.
oxyntic:
Producing or secreting acid; used primarily in reference to the parietal cells of the stomach.
oxyopia, oxyblepsia:
Abnormal acuteness or sharpness of sight.
oxyopter:
The reciprocal of the visual angle, used as a measure of visual acuity.
oxyosmia:
An abnormal acuteness of the sense of smell; oxyosphresia
oxyospheresia:
Excessive, or abnormal, acuteness of the sense of smell.
oxypathia, oxypathy:
1. Unusual acuity of sensation.
2. An acute condition.
3. A condition in which the body is unable to eliminate unoxidizable acids, which combine with fixed alkalies of the tissues and harm the organism.
oxyperitoneum:
The introduction of oxygen into the peritoneal cavity.
oxypetalous:
Having sharply pointed petals.
oxyphil, oxyphilic, oxyphilia, oxyphilous:
1. Acid-loving, applied to certain white blood-corpuscles or other cells having an affinity for acid dyes.
2. In botany, living or thriving in acidic soil, acid loving.
3. Staining readily with acid dyes.
oxyphobe:
Unable to tolerate soil acidity.
oxyphobia, oxyphobous:
In botany, living or thriving in alkaline soil; not tolerant of acidic conditions.
oxyphonia, oxyphony:
Excessive acuteness or shrillness of the voice.
oxyphyllous:
Having pointed leaves.
oxyphyte, oxyphytic:
In botany, a plant that grows in an acidic environment.
oxyrhine, oxyrhinous:
1. Sharp-nosed, sharp-snouted.
2. Possessing an acute sense of smell.
oxyrhynchous:
Sharp-snouted; sharp billed.
oxysphere:
1. The lithosphere or the solid, outer layer of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
2. The geosphere or the combination of the earth’s lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
oxytaxis:
A directed response of a motile organism to an oxygen stimulus; oxytactic.
oxythymous:
Quick-tempered; easily riled or angered.
oxytocic:
1. Referring to or characterized by rapid labor.
2. An agent that hastens childbirth by stimulating contractions of the myometrium.
oxytocin:
1. A hormone produced by the hypothalamus that is stored and released by the pituitary gland. It causes contractions of the uterus and the release of milk from the mammary glands.
2. A smooth muscle contraction-stimulating hormone found in the neurohypophysis.
oxytropic:
An orientation response to an acid stimulus.
oxytropism:
An orientation response to an oxygen gradient stimulus.
oxyuricide:
An agent that destroys pinworms.
oxyurous:
Having a pointed tail.
paroxysm, paroxysmal:
1. An increase of the acuteness or severity of a disease, usually recurring periodically in its course; a violent temporary access of disease; a fit.
2. A violent access of action or emotion; a fit, convulsion (e.g. of laughter, excitement, rage, terror, etc.; also said of physical processes, as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions).
3. Violent or convulsive physical action.