tautological

Advancedzipf 2.02

Pronunciation

/ˌtɔːtəˈlɒdʒɪkəl/(taw-tuh-LOJ-ih-kul)

Part of speech

adjectiveformal

Chinese

同义反复的；赘述的

Definition

Using different words to say the same thing; needlessly repetitive.

Word family

  • tautology/tɔːˈtɒlədʒi/(n)同义反复
  • tautologous/tɔːˈtɒləɡəs/(adj)赘述的

Collocations

  • tautological statement
  • tautological argument
  • tautological reasoning
  • avoid tautology

Examples

  1. 1."Free gift" is tautological — all gifts are free by definition. (redundantly repetitive)
  2. 2.The argument was tautological: "We should do it because it's the right thing to do, and it's right because we should do it." (circular)

Synonyms

  • redundant/rɪˈdʌndənt/— unnecessarily repeated
  • pleonastic/ˌpliːəˈnæstɪk/— using more words than needed
  • circular/ˈsɜːkjʊlə/— reasoning that proves itself

Etymology

from Greek "tautologia" — tauto- (the same) + logos (word/reason) — saying the same thing