sorites paradox
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paradox that a heap of sand and a heap of sand minus one grain is also a heap, then one grain of sand is a heap
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Encyclopedic overview
The sorites paradox: If a heap is reduced by a single grain at a time, at what exact point does it cease to be considered a heap? The sorites paradox (/soʊˈraɪtiːz/), sometimes known as the paradox of the heap, is a paradox that results from vague predicates. A typical formulation involves a heap of sand, from which grains are removed individually. With the assumption that removing a single grain does not cause a heap not to be considered a heap anymore, the paradox is to consider what happens when the process is repeated enough times that only one grain remains and if it is still a heap. If not, then the question asks when it changed from a heap to a non-heap.
Original formulation
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sorites paradox” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.