Richard's paradox

proper noun

The paradox where, given the observation that certain English phrases unambiguously define real numbers while others do not, there is an infinitely long list of English phrases that unambiguously define real numbers, yet (using a similar technique to Cantor's diagonal argument) it is possible to generate another such phrase not in the list.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. The paradox where, given the observation that certain English phrases unambiguously define real numbers while others do not, there is an infinitely long list of English phrases that unambiguously define real numbers, yet (using a similar technique to Cantor's diagonal argument) it is possible to generate another such phrase not in the list.

Origin

First described by the French mathematician Jules Richard in 1905.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Richard's paradox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard's%20paradox

MLA

“Richard's paradox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard's%20paradox. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Richard's paradox,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Richard's%20paradox.

Source: Richard's paradox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.