oxymoron (òk´sê-môr¹òn´, -mor¹-) noun

A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.

[Greek oxumoron, from neuter of oxumoros, pointedly foolish : oxus, sharp. See OXYGEN + moros, foolish, dull.]

Examples:

1. "Now, then ...
2. A white shadow
3. A whole half
4. Acrylic glass
5. Act naturally
6. Advanced BASIC
7. Almost exactly
8. Alone together
9. Alone with someone
10. Amateur expert
11. Baby grand (piano)
12. Baked Alaska
13. Baptised paganism
14. Black light
15. Brief survey
16. Business ethics
17. Carnal Christians
18. Cherokee Pioneer
19. Civil war
20. Clearly misunderstood
21. Common sense
22. Computer jock
23. Criminal justice
24. Criminal law
25. Crisis management
26. Critically acclaimed
27. Curving Avenue
28. Deafening silence
29. Death benefits
30. Definite maybe
31. Diet ice cream
32. Divorce court
33. Doctor of Nursing
34. Dodge Ram
35. Down escalator
36. Down elevator
37. Dry wine
38. Elementary calculus
39. Evaporated milk
40. Even odds
41. Exact estimate
42. Executive secretary
43. Exercise junkie
44. Extensive briefing
45. Extra time
46. Fast idle
47. Flatt's Hill
48. Flexible freeze
49. Found missing
50. Freezer burn
51. Fresh frozen
52. Friendly argument
53. Friendly fire
54. Frigid heat
55. Gay marriage
56. Genuine imitation
57. Glasses for the blind
58. Good grief
59. Gourmet pizza
60. Great depression
61. Guest host
62. Healthy meat
63. Homeless shelter
64. Honest Crook
65. Hopelessly optimistic
66. Icy Hot
67. Idiot savant
68. Ill health
69. Increasingly lower
70. Industrial park
71. Irate patient
72. Jumbo shrimp
73. Junk food
74. Legally drunk
75. Light-heavyweight
76. Live recording
77. Living dead
78. Mandatory option
79. Master copy
80. Meatless sausage
81. Medium large
82. Mild abrasive
83. Minor miracle
84. Minor disaster
85. New classic
86. No-good do-godder!
87. Non-dairy creamer
88. Non-stop flight
89. Numb feeling
90. Old news
91. Organised mess
92. Original copy
93. Passive aggression
94. Peace force
95. Peacekeeper missile
96. Perfect idiot
97. Permanent temp
98. Plastic glasses
99. Political science
100. Pretty ugly
101. Pure mixture
102. Quiet storm
103. Random logic
104. Rap music
105. Renegade Lawmakers
106. Resident alien
107. Rude welcome
108. Same difference
109. Sarcastic joke
110. Scheduled spontaneity
111. Science fiction
112. Silent scream
113. Singular relationship
114. Small crowd
115. Smokeless cigarettes
116. Soft rock
117. Sound of silence
118. Standard deviation
119. Strangely familiar
120. Student teacher
121. Sure bet
122. Sweet sorrow
123. Synthetic natural gas
124. Taped live
125. Terribly nice
126. Terribly pleased
127. Tight slacks
128. Tragic comedy
129. Turbo diesel
130. Twelve-ounce pound cake
131. Unacceptable solution
132. Unfortunate privilege
133. Uninvited guests
134. Vanilla fudge
135. Weak support
136. Wintry fever
137. Work party
138. Working vacation