aporia

noun

apo·​ria ə-ˈpȯr-ē-ə 

1

: an expression of real or pretended doubt or uncertainty especially for rhetorical effect

2

: a logical impasse or contradiction

especially : a radical contradiction in the import of a text or theory that is seen in deconstruction as inevitable

Examples of aporia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Applying pressure to soft, secret places, the critic exposed fake oppositions, crude essentialisms, bourgeois hegemonies, totalizing mechanisms, humanist teleologies, squalid repressions, influential aporias, and many more textual fragilities. —Emily Eakin, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

French aporie, ultimately from Greek aporia difficulty, perplexity, from aporos impassable, from a- + poros passage — more at fare

First Known Use

circa 1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for aporia

• chorea
• correa
• doria
• gloria
• scoria
• shorea
• thoria
• centaurea
• dysphoria
• euphoria
• septoria
• signoria