duplicative

[doo-pli-key-tiv, dyoo-]

adjective

1. involving duplication, especially unnecessary repetition of effort or resources.

   The report will highlight examples of wasteful or duplicative spending.

   The new “No-Hassle” rule eliminates duplicative luggage screening requirements for passengers originating from certain airports.

2. done the same way more than once; effectively identical.

   A new law allows state agencies to ignore records requests they deem to be duplicative or substantially similar to previous requests.

Other Word Forms

• nonduplicative adjective
• unduplicative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of duplicative¹

First recorded in 1820–30; duplicat(e) ( def. ) + -ive ( def. )

Example Sentences

In a letter in June, a coalition of water agencies, business and labor groups and other supporters said that for decades the project “has been stalled by frivolous lawsuits and duplicative reviews.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Further,” it adds, “the supremacy clause prohibits parallel or competitive activities by member agencies, effectively eliminating duplicative structures such as stand-alone task forces or specialized units, to include narcotics, financial, or others.”

From Salon

Musk has posted on X, “Delete CFPB,” calling it a duplicative federal agency.

From Los Angeles Times

But Nako and others tracking the case said if Uber could easily unwind cases the government binds together, other big companies would write identical provisions into their own terms of use, tangling federal civil courts in endless duplicative lawsuits — making it much harder for victims to collect damages.

From Los Angeles Times

He also noted that Elon Musk — who in a November post on X said, “Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies” — wants to turn the social media site formerly known as Twitter into a payments platform.

From Los Angeles Times