Paradox (Gr. para, 'beside' or 'beyond,' and doxa, 'an opinion'), a term applied to whatever is contrary to the received belief; not necessarily an opinion contrary to truth. There have been bold and happy paradoxes whose fortune it has been to overthrow accredited errors, and in the course of time to become universally accepted as truths. For paradoxists who square the circle, and invent perpetual motion, see QUADRATURE OF THE CIRCLE, PERPETUAL MOTION; and De Morgan's Budget of Paradoxes (1872).
Paradox
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7: Maltebrun to Pearson, p. 748
Source scan(s): p. 0763