Paradoxical means seeming to contradict itself and yet possibly true. A paradoxical result, paradoxical though it seems, a paradoxical effect.
In medicine a paradoxical reaction is a drug doing the opposite of what it should, as when a sedative causes agitation in a child. Elsewhere it flags something worth thinking about rather than something false.
1adjectiveparadoxicalSeeming to contradict itself and yet possibly true.
“It seems paradoxical, but spending more on good boots can actually save you money.”
paradoxical is a quality.
Proto-Indo-European
*deḱ-
Ancient Greek
παράδοξος — unexpected, strange
Latin
paradoxum
Middle French
paradoxe
English
paradox
English, today
paradoxical
From paradox + -ical. paradox comes from Middle French paradoxe, from Latin paradoxum, from Ancient Greek παράδοξος (“unexpected, strange”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA