antinomy
an·ti·nomy/ænˈtɪn.ə.mi/noun
antinomy is a noun meaning “Any contradiction or paradox” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-N-T-I-N-O-M-Y and has 3 syllables (an·ti·nomy), and it appears about once in every 29 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of antinomy is antinomies.
What does antinomy mean?
noun
- 1
archaicA contradiction within a law, or between different laws; also, a contradiction between authorities.
- 2
Any contradiction or paradox.
- 3
In the thought of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): an apparent contradiction between valid conclusions; a paradox.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce antinomy?
- US /ænˈtɪn.ə.mi/
Antinomy has 3 syllables, split an·ti·nomy in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-antinomy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of antinomy
- antinomies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is antinomy?
Antinomy appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Antinomy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (epistemology, logic) apparent contradiction between valid conclusions:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.