tautological

[ tawt-l-oj-i-kuhl ]
See synonyms for tautological on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. (of a phrase) needlessly repetitive without adding information or clarity:Third-world communist regimes, with tautological insistence, call themselves "people's democracies."

  2. (especially in logic) defined in terms of itself:Some would argue that the phrase ''survival of the fittest'' is tautological, in that the fittest are defined as those that survive to reproduce.

Origin of tautological

1
  • Also tau·tol·o·gous [taw-tol-uh-guhs] /tɔˈtɒl ə gəs/ .
  • Sometimes tau·to·log·ic [tawt-l-oj-ik] /ˌtɔt lˈɒdʒ ɪk/ .

Other words from tautological

  • tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, tau·tol·o·gous·ly, adverb
  • non·tau·to·log·i·cal, adjective
  • non·tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, adverb
  • un·tau·to·log·i·cal, adjective
  • un·tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tautological in a sentence