pleonasm

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Late Latin pleonasmus, from Ancient Greek πλεονασμός (pleonasmos), from πλεονάζω (pleonazō, “I am superfluous”), from πλείων (pleiōn, “more”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpliːənæzəm/

Noun

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.

   • Dec 14, 2007, Ryan North, Dinosaur Comics,

     pleonasm is the additional and extra use of added, spare, unnecessary, redundant (superfluous or surplus), unneeded, and uncalled-for words in addition to, and on top of, what is necessary or essential. Or required. Or obligatory or vital or requisite or crucial. Or needed?

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 (as the word "both" is redundant), as is "killed dead".

Related terms

• pleonastic

Translations

redundancy in wording

• Czech: pleonasmus (cs) m
• Dutch: pleonasme (nl) n
• Finnish: pleonasmi (fi)
• French: pléonasme (fr) m
• German: Pleonasmus (de) m
• Hungarian: pleonazmus (hu), szószaporítás (hu), szinonimahalmozás (hu)

• Polish: pleonazm (pl)
• Portuguese: pleonasmo (pt) m
• Russian: плеоназм (ru) (pleonázm) m
• Spanish: pleonasmo (es) m
• Swedish: pleonasm (sv) c

phrase involving pleonasm

• Danish: pleonasme (da) c, dobbeltkonfekt (da) c
• Finnish: pleonasmi (fi)
• French: pléonasme (fr) m

• Hungarian: pleonazmus (hu), szószaporítás (hu), szinonimahalmozás (hu)
• Polish: pleonazm (pl) m
• Swedish: pleonasm (sv) c

See also

• Category:English pleonastic compounds

Anagrams

• neoplasm, planemos