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. Compare complete ( def 8 ), incomplete ( def 3 ).
   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

Derived Forms

• reˈdundantly, adverb

Other Words From

• re·dun·dant·ly 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

This makes the two hemispheres largely redundant — they carry the same information about the lines — so we can forget the southern one.

From Quanta Magazine

It’s all set against the challenge of the search for a business model, people being asked to do more work, others being made redundant.

From Digiday

Some models are multi-cookers, which will allow them to replace otherwise redundant devices in your cabinet and on your countertop, thereby saving space just by being there.

From Popular-Science

It is healthy to maintain redundant databases, collected by active communities, so that data can be challenged in order to keep the civic space open and global.

From MIT Technology Review

The resulting surface is a highly redundant representation of the dodecahedron, with 10 copies of each pentagon.

From Quanta Magazine

On some issues, Puck was so mired in its own times that the commentary is redundant.

From The Daily Beast

The sheer amount of redundant bureaucracy needs to be eliminated.

From The Daily Beast

Overall, The Judge wants to be insightful and funny and sad, but it instead ends up being clichéd and redundant.

From The Daily Beast

It almost seems that an “official” investigation will be redundant.

From The Daily Beast

The waitress recommends that we get our pannukakku with nisu toast, which seems redundant—toast with pancakes?

From The Daily Beast

Within were the park and the deer, and the mansion rearing its brilliant columns amidst the redundant groves of a Spanish autumn.

From Project Gutenberg

On p. 21 The redundant double quotation mark after "grandure" has been deleted.

From Project Gutenberg

For a time there was enthusiastic cutting of septal spurs and burning of redundant mucosa and cauterizing of sensitive areas.

From Project Gutenberg

The phrase seems redundant, but ‘trivial’ may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known.

From Project Gutenberg

He stood six feet six inches high in his stockings, and straight as an arrow, without any redundant flesh.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• superfluous
• unnecessary