pleonasm

Late Latin pleonasmus, from Ancient Greek πλεονασμός (pleonasmós), from πλεονάζω (pleonázō, “I am superfluous”), from πλείων (pleíōn, “more”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpliːənæzəm/

pleonasm (countable and uncountable, plural pleonasms)

1. (uncountable, rhetoric) Redundancy in wording.
   • 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford,

     My salvation is in my Saviour who saveth me hence the redundancy and pleonasm of my asseveration.

2. (countable) A phrase involving pleonasm, that is, a phrase in which one or more words are redundant, as their meaning is expressed elsewhere in the phrase.

   "The two of them are both the same" is a pleonasm (since the word "both" is redundant), as is the phrase "killed dead".

• pleonasmic

• pleonastic

• auxesis
• tautology
• Category:English pleonastic compounds

• pleonasm at OneLook Dictionary Search

• neoplasm, planemos