pleonasm
[plee-uh-naz-uh m]
noun
the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy.
an instance of this, as free gift or true fact.
a redundant word or expression.
Origin of pleonasm
1580–90; < Late Latin pleonasmus < Greek pleonasmós redundancy, surplus, derivative of pleonázein to be or have more than enough, itself derivative of pleíōn more (see pleo-)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for pleonasm
diffusion, rhetoric, redundancy, garrulity, copiousness, verbosity, circumlocution, diffuseness, verboseness, verbiage, loquacity, prolixity, repetition, logorrhea, tautology, loquaciousness, redundance, wordageExamples from the Web for pleonasm
Historical Examples of pleonasm
Ignorance of the true meaning of a word often leads to pleonasm.
The Romance of Words (4th ed.)Ernest Weekley
What is pleonasm in a single sentence is ellipsis in a double one.
A Handbook of the English LanguageRobert Gordon Latham
These are instances of pleonasm in the strictest sense of the term.
A Handbook of the English LanguageRobert Gordon Latham
We have spoken of "true worship;" the expression is a pleonasm.
The Articles of FaithJames E. Talmage
The pleonasm is explained by the divergence of French and ME.
pleonasm
noun rhetoric
Word Origin for pleonasm
C16: from Latin pleonasmus, from Greek pleonasmos excess, from pleonazein to be redundant
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pleonasm
[plē′ə-năz′əm]
n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.