pleonasm

Advancedzipf 1.29

Pronunciation

/ˈpliːənæzəm/(PLEE-uh-naz-um)

Part of speech

nounformal

Chinese

赘词；冗余表达

Definition

The use of more words than necessary to convey meaning; redundancy in expression.

Word family

  • pleonastic/ˌpliːəˈnæstɪk/(adj)赘余的

Collocations

  • a pleonasm like
  • avoid pleonasm
  • common pleonasm
  • example of pleonasm

Examples

  1. 1."Burning fire" is a pleonasm — fire already implies burning. (redundant expression)
  2. 2.Good writing avoids pleonasm; every word should earn its place. (unnecessary repetition)

Synonyms

  • redundancy/rɪˈdʌndənsi/— unnecessary repetition
  • tautology/tɔːˈtɒlədʒi/— saying the same thing twice
  • verbosity/vɜːˈbɒsɪti/— using too many words

Etymology

from Greek "pleonasmos" — "pleon" = more — using more than needed