Many people see only a small difference between an oxymoron
and a paradox. Usually they find it difficult to figure out the difference between
the two terms. Although there are no hard rules that differentiate an oxymoron and
a paradox, upon closer examination some differences can be observed.
While a paradox is a statement or a group of statements, oxymoron is
a only a combination of two contradictory terms. Paradox is apparently a true statement,
which leads to a situation that is counter-intuitive. It includes a whole sentence, while an oxymoron comes with only two or three words that contradict each other.For example "Freedom is slavery" is a paradox, because it is a sentence, while "cold fire" is only a sentence fragment. Simply put, paradox is considered to be an action that is contradictory and oxymoron is just a description, or a phrase.
The easiest way to determine if a figure of speech is an oxymoron is to
look if it contains two or three words, which do not make a sentence. The two words have opposite meanings. Jumbo shrimp, icy hot and pretty ugly are a couple of examples of oxymora. The dictionary defines oxymoron as a paradox reduced to two words (adjective-noun or adverb-adjective), which is used for giving more effect and emphasizing contrasts.
The dictionary defines paradox as a logic statement contradicting itself, or a sentence that is opposed to
the common sense but yet can be true. Unlike an oxymoron, a paradox can contain many words, even a whole paragraph. It is usually a true statement or a group of statements, which seems to lead to some contradiction. In essence a paradox can be viewed as and extended oxymoron
While the two words used in oxymoron are used for some dramatic effect and does seem to make sense when you think about it, a paradoxical statement that contains opposing elements when read together, makes some
sense.