# Is Macbeth's phrase "terrible feat" an oxymoron? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2022, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741 "2022-05-20T07:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/1 "2022-05-20T07:24:52Z")
I had read somewhere that Macbeth’s phrase to describe his impending murder of Duncan as a “terrible feat” was an oxymoron? I don’t see it that way but if it is can someone explain why? ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/2 "2022-05-20T07:52:58Z")
It’s an oxymoron only in the current sense of “terrible,” meaning “very, very bad.” In WIllie’s day, it usually meant something more like “capable of inducing terror,” so, no. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/3 "2022-05-20T07:56:05Z")
Yeah, it’s probably also true that ‘terror’ has changed a bit too - and would have meant ‘intense and involuntary shocked awe’ or something, rather than the modern pants-wetting-fright, so ‘terrible’ would have been somewhat synonymous with ‘awesome’ in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/4 "2022-05-20T07:57:39Z")
So I suppose it could be self-contradictory in the sense that it was a planned event, but he was using a word that denotes (at least an element of) surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/5 "2022-05-20T07:59:58Z")
Or, as Terry Pratchett put it; > [@](#): > > Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. > Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. > Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. > Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. > Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. > Elves are terrific. They beget terror. > The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. > No one ever said elves are nice. > Elves are bad. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/6 "2022-05-20T08:11:32Z")
If terror is terrible or terrifying what emotion does a “feat” evoke? ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/7 "2022-05-20T08:12:24Z")
I don’t get the contradiction between terrible and feat. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/8 "2022-05-20T08:30:17Z")
In the sense that “feat” is usually parsed as some sort of positively impressive accomplishment. For example, you probably wouldn’t casually describe al-Qaeda’s destruction of the World Trade Center towers as a feat, unless you had some provocative purpose for doing so. Hence, linking the word “terrible,” with its (largely modern, as discussed) negative connotations, and the word “feat,” which suggests a laudable achievement, can be argued as being contradictory. I don’t know that I buy it, considering how Shakespeare used language in his day, but that’s what’s being suggested. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/9 "2022-05-20T09:15:40Z")
Perhaps it is something like an ‘appalling triumph’, which would be an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/10 "2022-05-20T11:58:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > so ‘terrible’ would have been somewhat synonymous with ‘awesome’ in the day. That’s Shakespearean “awesome” and not current day “awesome!”, right? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/11 "2022-05-20T12:03:55Z")
Something can qualify as an “amazing feat” and yet be inherently bad. If I could somehow travel to eastern Europe, procure a nuclear device from the old Soviet Union that was stolen and put on the Black Market, somehow smuggle it into the United States, and then somehow smuggle it into the basement of the pentagon, and then somehow set it off, that would be an amazing feat indeed. Yet, it would be a truly terrible one. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/12 "2022-05-20T12:54:08Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > In the sense that “feat” is usually parsed as some sort of positively impressive accomplishment. Is it though? A feat is a deed that’s difficult to achieve, but I don’t think it is inherently passing a value judgement as well. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/13 "2022-05-20T13:47:28Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > ‘appalling triumph’, which would be an oxymoron. Why? Triumph has the connotation of being a notable victory, but nothing about the character of the winner or the consequences. If the Nazis had won the war, wouldn’t that aptly be described as an appalling triumph? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-macbeths-phrase-terrible-feat-an-oxymoron/964741/14 "2022-05-20T14:08:39Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Is it though? A feat is a deed that’s difficult to achieve, but I don’t think it is inherently passing a value judgement as well. I agree. The definition is “an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength.” There’s nothing about it being necessarily good or positive. Granted, that is how it’s often used, but modifying it with the word “terrible” whether it meaning "bad’ or “inducing terror” doesn’t make it an oxymoron. It merely qualifies what type of feat it is. I don’t see any oxymoron here. ETA: Well. hold on. Etymonline has this line in the entry for “feat”: > Sense of “exceptional or noble deed” arose c. 1400 from phrase feat of arms (French fait d’armes). In that case, if the Shakespearean usage does intend the “noble deed” definition, then it may well be oxymoronic.