paradox

noun

• An apparently self-contradictory statement, which can only be true if it is false, and vice versa.

  ""This sentence is false" is a paradox."

• A counterintuitive conclusion or outcome.

  "It is an interesting paradox that drinking a lot of water can often make you feel thirsty."

• A claim that two apparently contradictory ideas are true.

  "Not having a fashion is a fashion; that's a paradox."

• A thing involving contradictory yet interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time.
• A person or thing having contradictory properties.

  "He is a paradox; you would not expect him in that political party."

• An unanswerable question or difficult puzzle, particularly one which leads to a deeper truth.
• A statement which is difficult to believe, or which goes against general belief.
• The use of counterintuitive or contradictory statements (paradoxes) in speech or writing.
• A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.
• The practice of giving instructions that are opposed to the therapist's actual intent, with the intention that the client will disobey or be unable to obey.