self-contradictoryadj.
/ˌsɛlfkɒntrəˈdɪkt(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌsɛlfˌkɑntrəˈdɪktəri/ Involving self-contradiction; internally inconsistent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > lack of reasoning, illogicality > [adjective] > showing contradiction > of oneself
self-contradicting1647
self-contradictory1654
self-contradictious1657
self-repugnant1660
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana ii. ii. 92 If any mans skull be so soft, as to admit a durable impression of an opinion so openly self-contradictory, as this, that the Whole is less then its Parts.
1657 R. Baxter One Sheet against Quakers 8 Their Doctrines are self-contradictory.
1703 J. Ramsay Toleration's Fence Removed 31 I shall not now consider whether the Test was a Self contradictory Oath or not.
1793 Analyt. Rev. Jan. 19 The modes of expression, fanciful with respect to sight, are unintelligible, and self-contradictory, with respect to the other senses.
1811 Morning Post 24 Oct. Painting a picture, odious from its deformity, and even self-contradictory.
1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. iv. 162 The Florentine's precepts were..so self-contradictory..that he was supposed to be in jest.
1953 Jrnl. Relig. 33 201/2 He has a field day rollicking in the paralogistic and self-contradictory elements of certain logical-positivistic attacks upon metaphysics.
1985 D. Lowenthal Past is Foreign Country (1988) v. 199 The signals we now recall often seem confused, even self-contradictory.
2010 C. Seife Proofiness vi. 182 The Supreme Court has been writhing in self-contradictory paroxysms trying to avoid addressing the issue.
Derivatives
self-contraˈdictorily adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > contrariety or contrast > [adverb] > paradoxically
paradoxicallya1586
self-contradictorily1690
ironically1896
1690 C. Mather Princ. Protestant Relig. Maintained 81 If we had talked so wildly, nonsensically, and Self-contradictorily.
1834 Imperial Mag. Aug. 372/2 The quarrels, which are so self-contradictorily styled religious disputes, among Christians.
1959 P. F. Strawson Individuals i. 34 The standard..is set self-contradictorily high.
2003 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 9 Apr. a14/4 It strains credulity to suggest that a state legislature that adopted a litany of segregationist laws self-contradictorily intended to squelch the segregationist message.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1654