In the title compound, C12H12N2O2, synthesized by ammonolysis of 3-phenyl-isoxazole-5-carbonyl chloride in di-chloro-methane, the dihedral angle between the isoxazole ring and the phenyl ring is 14.05 (7)°. In the crystal, centrosym-metrically related mol-ecules are linked into dimers by pairs of C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating rings of graph-set motif R 2 (2)(10).