redundant

[ri-duhn-duhnt]

adjective

1. exceeding what is needed or useful; superfluous.

   You can shorten the article by omitting these redundant paragraphs.

   I decided that a sixth pair of dress shoes was redundant.

   Synonyms: tautological, superfluous, useless, excessive

2. characterized by unnecessary words or repetition; verbose.

   He writes in a redundant style.

   Synonyms: repetitive, verbose

3. serving or added as a backup; extra.

   If the latch fails on this backwards-opening car hood, the wind will blow it down rather than up, so a redundant latch is not needed.

4. having one or more extra or duplicate parts or features.

   The genetic code is redundant, meaning that more than one codon can map to the same amino acid.

5. Chiefly British.,  (of a worker) laid off or unemployed.

   If the mine were to close, the result would be 183 redundant workers.

6. Computers.

   1. (of code, or of a signal communicating a message) including or encoding more than the required information, so as to provide a fallback, a means of validating data, an accommodation for different platforms, etc.

   2. (of network or system components) providing an additional traffic path or storage place for data, so that if one fails, the other can take over or serve as backup.

7. Engineering.

   1. (of a structural member or part) designed to withstand stresses greater than or different from those that can be calculated or predicted.

   2. (of a structure) having members or parts designed to withstand stresses that cannot be calculated or predicted.

   3. (of a complete truss) having additional members enabling it to withstand loads that are not centered.

   4. (of a device, circuit, etc.) having extra or duplicate parts that can serve as a backup in case other parts malfunction.

8. Linguistics.,  including or encoding more information than is necessary for communication: for example, in my three sons, the plural ending "-s" on sons is redundant because three already indicates plurality.

9. extremely lush or abundant.

   The jungle, with its exuberant, redundant vegetation, hides bizarre and exotic creatures.

redundant

/ rɪˈdʌndənt /

adjective

1. surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous

2. verbose or tautological

3. deprived of one's job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operation

   he has been made redundant

4. (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc

Other Word Forms

• redundantly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of redundant¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin redundant-, stem of redundāns “flowing back, being excessive,” present participle of redundāre “to flow back, overflow, be excessive”; redound ( def. ), -ant ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of redundant¹

C17: from Latin redundans overflowing, from redundāre to run back, stream over; see _redound

Synonym Study

See wordy.

Example Sentences

That is, until the next week, when he finds out that the eel was a parting gift to cushion the blow for workers deemed redundant by his company’s new owners.

From Salon

But after being made redundant, he decided to set-up a business in the food industry.

From BBC

The Insolvency Service said 125 employees would be made redundant at the end of October, with 255 people remaining at the site at North Killingholme, in North Lincolnshire.

From BBC

With traditional specialists like marines or paratroopers becoming increasingly redundant on the modern battlefield, this new unit will storm Russian positions with the help of drones.

From BBC

Production ended 12 months ago with 2,000 workers made redundant after the company said its blast furnace operation was losing £1m a day.

From BBC

Related Words

• superfluous 
• unnecessary