Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

unexpected hanging paradox

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.49 in modern English

Syllables: un-ex-pect-ed hang-ing -para-dox
IPA

51

Scrabble Score

24

Letters

7

Syllables

14

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A paradox about a person's expectations about the timing of a future event which they are told will occur at an unexpected time. It is based on the idea that a prisoner, told that he will be hanged on a day unknown to him, concludes that "I cannot be hanged on Friday because if I haven't been hanged by the end of Thursday then it would no longer be a surprise", and so on backwards through the week.

Frequently Paired Words

surprise test paradox

Synonyms

hangman paradox

Questions

What does unexpected hanging paradox mean?: A paradox about a person's expectations about the timing of a future event which they are told will occur at an unexpected time. It is based on the idea that a prisoner, told that he will be hanged on a day unknown to him, concludes that "I cannot be hanged on Friday because if I haven't been hanged by the end of Thursday then it would no longer be a surprise", and so on backwards through the week.

How to pronounce unexpected hanging paradox

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