redundant

English

Etymology

From Latin redundāns, present participle of redundō (“to overflow, redound”), from red- (“again, back”) + undō (“to surge, flood”), from unda (“a wave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdʌn.dənt/
• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɐn.dənt/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈdɐn.dənt/

Adjective

redundant (comparative more redundant, superlative most redundant)

1. Superfluous; exceeding what is necessary (and therefore no longer needed because other things fulfill its task or purpose).
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of the Academy. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 82:

     It is allowed, that Senates and great Councils are often troubled with redundant, ebullient, and other peccant Humours, with many Diſeaſes of the Head and more of the Heart; […]

   • 1822, John Barclay, chapter I, in An Inquiry Into the Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Concerning Life and Organization‎^[1], Edinburgh; London: Bell & Bradfute; Waugh & Innes; G. & W. B. Whittaker, section I, page 1:

     In the living state, the body is observed to receive aliment; to assimilate a part; to evacuate what is redundant or useless; […]

   • 2020 December 16, “Network News: "Robust case" for Fawley branch reopening”, in Rail, page 14:

     A key driver has been the approval of a new housing and employment development called Fawley Waterside, with 1,500 homes planned on the site of a redundant power station on the edge of Southampton Water.

   • 2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Network Rail Community Award: Saltash and Stow”, in RAIL, number 946, page 58:

     Two entrants shared this award for their work on two quite different stations, but with the same purpose of bringing a redundant station building back into use for the benefit of the community, with the added result of conserving an historic building.

2. (literature, publishing) Of words, writing, etc., repetitive or needlessly wordy.
3. Duplicating or able to duplicate the function of another component of a system, providing backup in the event the other component fails.
   • 2013, Tom Denton, Automobile Electrical and Electronic Systems, page 142:

     The two lines are mainly used for redundant and therefore fault-tolerant message transmission, but they can also transmit different messages.

4. (networking, of topology) Containing duplicate pathways to send a message.
5. (chiefly UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia) Dismissed from employment because no longer needed.

   Synonym: surplus to requirements

   Four employees were made redundant.

   • 1999 September 12, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Dead Man's Eleven”, in Midsomer Murders:

     Joyce Barnaby: You don't kill someone because they made you redundant.
     DCI Tom Barnaby: Not in the town, dear, but this is the country. And, in the country, anything goes.

6. Obsolete or outdated; discarded, or fit to be discarded.
   • 2013, Bob Carruthers, Panther V in Combat, Coda Books Ltd, →ISBN:

     A knocked out Panther tank lies redundant in the river.

   • 2017 December 13, Francesco Buscemi, From Body Fuel to Universal Poison: Cultural History of Meat: 1900-The Present, Springer, →ISBN, page 109:

     Many mainstream restaurants today have a vegetarian menu, and the old representation of vegetarians as ill people is now totally redundant.

   • 2026 August 13, Francis Dearnley, "Ukraine counteroffensive has retaken ‘745 square kilometers’ | Russia-Ukraine latest war news", Ukraine: The Latest (podcast by The Telegraph), c. 1:40:

     [There was a] Ukrainian raid on the major Russian port [of] Novorossiysk. [...] Novorossiysk is theoretically one of Putin's most well-protected cities. It underscores once again how such a concept is more or less redundant in this new age of innovative technology and tactics.

Antonyms

• non-redundant

Derived terms

• georedundant
• irredundant
• nonredundant
• redundant acronym syndrome
• redundantant
• redundant array of independent disks
• redundant biomass
• redundant colon
• redundantly
• redundundant
• reredundant
• semiredundant

Related terms

• redound (verb)
• redundance
• redundancy

Translations

superfluous

• Arabic: فَائِض (ar) m (fāʔiḍ), زَائِد m (zāʔid)
• Armenian: ավելորդ (hy) (avelord)
• Basque: gehiegizko
• Bulgarian: излишен (bg) (izlišen)
• Catalan: redundant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冗雜 / 冗杂 (zh) (rǒngzá), 冗餘 / 冗余 (zh) (rǒngyú)

• Czech: nadbytečný
• Danish: overflødig (da)
• Dutch: overbodig (nl), overtollig (nl), achterhaald (nl)
• Esperanto: superflua
• Estonian: ülearune, üleliigne
• Finnish: liiallinen (fi)
• French: redondant (fr)
• Galician: redundante
• Georgian: ზედმეტი (zedmeṭi), ნამეტი (nameṭi), გადამეტებული (gadameṭebuli), ჭარბი (č̣arbi)
• German: überflüssig (de)
• Greek: πλεονάζων (el) (pleonázon), παραπανίσιος (el) (parapanísios), υπεράριθμος (el) (yperárithmos), περισσός (el) (perissós)
• Hebrew: מיותר (he) (meyutár)
• Hungarian: felesleges (hu), redundáns (hu), szükségtelen (hu), mellőzhető (hu), nélkülözhető (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: iomarcach
• Italian: ridondante (it), iperverboso, copioso (it), sovrabbondante (it), pleonastico (it)
• Korean: 여분의 (yeobunui), 불필요한 (bulpiryohan)
• Latvian: lieks
• Lithuanian: perteklinis, nereikalingas
• Macedonian: излишен (izlišen)
• Manchu: ᠯᠠᠮᡦᠠ (lampa)
• Māori: tāwere
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: overflødig (no)
• Persian: افرونگی (afzunegi)
• Polish: nadmiarowy (pl), nadmierny (pl), redundantny (pl) (literally)
• Portuguese: redundante (pt)
• Romanian: redundant (ro)
• Russian: изли́шний (ru) (izlíšnij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏вӣшан, и̏злишан, редунда̀нтан

  Latin: sȕvīšan (sh), ȉzlišan (sh), redundàntan (sh), zalihosan

• Slovak: nadbytočný, prebytočný, redundantný
• Slovene: odvečen
• Spanish: superfluo (es), redundante (es)
• Swedish: överflödig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: ihtiyaçtan fazla, fazla (tr), gereğinden fazla, lüzumundan fazla (tr), yedek (tr) (backup), lüzumsuz (tr), gereksiz (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: آرتق (artık)

• Ukrainian: надлишковий (nadlyškovyj)
• Vietnamese: rườm rà (vi), dư thừa

needlessly wordy

• Arabic: حَشْو (ḥašw)
• Bulgarian: многословен (bg) (mnogosloven)
• Catalan: redundant (ca)
• Finnish: liikasanainen
• Galician: redundante
• Georgian: სიტყვაგრძელი (siṭq̇vagrʒeli), სიტყვამრავალი (siṭq̇vamravali), გაჭიანურებული (gač̣ianurebuli)
• German: redundant (de), überzählig (de), doppelt gemoppelt (de)
• Greek: περίσσιος (el) (períssios)
• Hungarian: terjengős (hu)
• Japanese: 冗長 (ja) (じょうちょう, jōchō)
• Norwegian: redundant (no), overflødig (no)
• Persian: حشو (hašv)
• Polish: rozwlekły (pl)
• Romanian: redundant (ro)
• Spanish: redundante (es)

Further reading

• “redundant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “redundant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “redundant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin redundantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [rə.ðunˈdan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [rə.ðunˈdant]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [re.ðunˈdant]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [re.ðunˈdan]

Adjective

redundant m or f (masculine and feminine plural redundants)

1. redundant

Derived terms

• redundantment

Related terms

• redundància
• redundar

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English redundant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌreː.dʏnˈdɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

redundant (comparative redundanter, superlative redundantst)

1. redundant

   Synonyms: overbodig, overtollig, boventallig, onnodig

Declension

Declension of redundant
uninflected	redundant
inflected	redundante
comparative	redundanter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		redundant	redundanter	het redundantst het redundantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	redundante	redundantere	redundantste
	n. sing.	redundant	redundanter	redundantste
	plural	redundante	redundantere	redundantste
definite		redundante	redundantere	redundantste
partitive		redundants	redundanters	—

Derived terms

• redundantie

German

Etymology

Ultimately borrowed from Latin redundans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁedʊnˈdant/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

Adjective

redundant (strong nominative masculine singular redundanter, comparative redundanter, superlative am redundantesten)

1. redundant

   Synonym: überzählig

Declension

Positive forms of redundant number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist redundant sie ist redundant es ist redundant sie sind redundant strong declension (without article) nominative redundanter redundante redundantes redundante genitive redundanten redundanter redundanten redundanter dative redundantem redundanter redundantem redundanten accusative redundanten redundante redundantes redundante weak declension (with definite article) nominative der redundante die redundante das redundante die redundanten genitive des redundanten der redundanten des redundanten der redundanten dative dem redundanten der redundanten dem redundanten den redundanten accusative den redundanten die redundante das redundante die redundanten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein redundanter eine redundante ein redundantes (keine) redundanten genitive eines redundanten einer redundanten eines redundanten (keiner) redundanten dative einem redundanten einer redundanten einem redundanten (keinen) redundanten accusative einen redundanten eine redundante ein redundantes (keine) redundanten Comparative forms of redundant number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist redundanter sie ist redundanter es ist redundanter sie sind redundanter strong declension (without article) nominative redundanterer redundantere redundanteres redundantere genitive redundanteren redundanterer redundanteren redundanterer dative redundanterem redundanterer redundanterem redundanteren accusative redundanteren redundantere redundanteres redundantere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der redundantere die redundantere das redundantere die redundanteren genitive des redundanteren der redundanteren des redundanteren der redundanteren dative dem redundanteren der redundanteren dem redundanteren den redundanteren accusative den redundanteren die redundantere das redundantere die redundanteren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein redundanterer eine redundantere ein redundanteres (keine) redundanteren genitive eines redundanteren einer redundanteren eines redundanteren (keiner) redundanteren dative einem redundanteren einer redundanteren einem redundanteren (keinen) redundanteren accusative einen redundanteren eine redundantere ein redundanteres (keine) redundanteren Superlative forms of redundant number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am redundantesten sie ist am redundantesten es ist am redundantesten sie sind am redundantesten strong declension (without article) nominative redundantester redundanteste redundantestes redundanteste genitive redundantesten redundantester redundantesten redundantester dative redundantestem redundantester redundantestem redundantesten accusative redundantesten redundanteste redundantestes redundanteste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der redundanteste die redundanteste das redundanteste die redundantesten genitive des redundantesten der redundantesten des redundantesten der redundantesten dative dem redundantesten der redundantesten dem redundantesten den redundantesten accusative den redundantesten die redundanteste das redundanteste die redundantesten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein redundantester eine redundanteste ein redundantestes (keine) redundantesten genitive eines redundantesten einer redundantesten eines redundantesten (keiner) redundantesten dative einem redundantesten einer redundantesten einem redundantesten (keinen) redundantesten accusative einen redundantesten eine redundanteste ein redundantestes (keine) redundantesten

Related terms

• Redundanz

Further reading

• “redundant” in Duden online
• “redundant”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Latin

Verb

redundant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of redundō

Romanian

Alternative forms

• redondant

Etymology

Borrowed from English redundant and French redondant, from Latin redundans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re.dunˈdant/

Adjective

redundant m or n (feminine singular redundantă, masculine plural redundanți, feminine/neuter plural redundante)

1. redundant

Declension

Declension of redundant

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	redundant		redundantă	redundanți	redundante
	definite	redundantul		redundanta	redundanții	redundantele
genitive- dative	indefinite	redundant		redundante	redundanți	redundante
	definite	redundantului		redundantei	redundanților	redundantelor

Related terms

• redondanță