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What's the difference between an oxymoron, antithesis and juxtaposition?

I understand that these three terms are very similar, as they all involve contrasting words being put together; however, I am unsure as to what the precise difference is between them.

If anyone could explain the difference, with examples, it would be much appreciated!
an oxymoron is a contradictory phrase like 'deafening silence' or 'cruel kindness'

antithesis is the complete opposite of something, it can be a word or character, setting etc like heaven is the antithesis of hell or god is the antithesis of the devil (lol not religious but they're the only examples I can think of right now haha)

juxtaposition is when two things are contrasted- it can be words, settings, chapters etc for example "schoolmasters can puzzle their brains with nonsense and learning' - nonsense and learning are juxtaposed to highlight the author's stance on education

Hope that helps
Reply 2
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Original post by pseudonymegg
an oxymoron is a contradictory phrase like 'deafening silence' or 'cruel kindness'

antithesis is the complete opposite of something, it can be a word or character, setting etc like heaven is the antithesis of hell or god is the antithesis of the devil (lol not religious but they're the only examples I can think of right now haha)

juxtaposition is when two things are contrasted- it can be words, settings, chapters etc for example "schoolmasters can puzzle their brains with nonsense and learning' - nonsense and learning are juxtaposed to highlight the author's stance on education

Hope that helps

Thanks for this, it's helped a lot.

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