is there a description of this kind of combination?

[dustfree]

martyr docile or innocent condemned

 

[5jj]

Literal translation?

What worked for Baudelaire may well not work in English.

 

[dustfree]

no i suppose i meant is it an oxymoron or a synonym (i know its not one of those) but has it a description like that?thanks

 

[5jj]

What combination are you asking about - all five words?

 

[dustfree]

martyr docile
innocent condanmé
its just the combination of the words, in the first and the second above, it seems strange to me and i thought there might be a descriptive term for them.

 

[SoothingDave]

Why wouldn't a martyr be docile?

 

[TheParser]

martyr docile
innocent condanmé
its just the combination of the words, in the first and the second above, it seems strange to me and i thought there might be a descriptive term for them.

NOT A TEACHER


(1) I may have what you are looking for.

(a) If I do not, let me know. Then I can delete this post. I do not like to clutter

threads with wrong answers.

(2) Are you, by any chance, thinking of postpositive adjectives? That is,

adjectives that come after ("post") the noun?

(a) For example:

heir apparent (from Professor Quirk's famous book)
all things English (from Dr. Quirk)
devil incarnate (from Dr. Quirk)

X, for reasons obscure, killed himself. (I forget the source)
He toted a notebook to church events large and small. (I forget ....)
I can never love any human creature breathing but yourself. (Charles Dickens)

 

[Tdol]

martyr docile
innocent condanmé
its just the combination of the words, in the first and the second above, it seems strange to me and i thought there might be a descriptive term for them.

I can see your idea, but I don't think that the pairs are united- there's a wrong in condemning an innocent - not an oxymoron but there's something going on there - but I don't see why martyrs shouldn't be docile as there's an element of meekness and acceptance in some of the cases.