Pleonasm definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (8)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

noun The use of more words than are required to express an idea; redundancy.
noun An instance of pleonasm.
noun A superfluous word or phrase.

Century Dictionary (3)

Redundancy of language; the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea. Pleonasm may be justifiable when the intention is to present thoughts with particular perspicuity or force. The first surplusage the Greekes call Pleonasmus (I call him too full speech), and is no great fault: as if one should say, I heard it with mine eares, and saw it with mine eyes, as if a man could heare with his heeles, or see with his nose. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 264.
A redundant phrase or expression; an instance of redundancy of language. Harsh compositions, pleonasms of words, tautological repetitions. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 25.
In medicine, excess in number or size. Synonyms Pleonasm, Verbosity, Tautology, Circumlocution, Periphrasis, Verbiage, Redundancy. By pleonasm is meant the employment of more words than usual, or of redundant words. When properly employed, it is productive of a high degree of emphasis…. By Verbosity is meant an excessive use of words; it arises from a natural gift of fluent expression, which has not been sufficiently chastened and corrected. … Tautology arises from verbosity, and may be defined as the repetition of the same idea in different words…. Circumlocution is another characteristic of verbosity; it means a roundabout mode of speech, where, instead of a direct statement of meaning, the words are multiplied to an unnecessary extent. When properly employed, this is a recognized figure of speech, periphrasis…. Periphrasis is also known as circumlocution, but the term periphrasis generally refers to those cases where the figure is used with effect, while circumlocution refers to its faulty use. Periphrasis may be defined as naming a thing indirectly by means of some well-known attribute, or characteristic, or attendant circumstance.” J De Mille, Rhetoric, §§ 27, 28, 29, 132, 218. Verbiage and verbosity are contemptuous words, verbiage being more often applied to the things said or written that are verbose : as, his speech was mere verbiage. Pleonasm and periphrasis are terms of rhetoric, with some general use; the others are in common use. Redundancy expresses without contempt the fact that more words are used than are necessary. A work on style might fitly take, from these documents which our Government annually lays before all the world, warning instances of confusions, and illogicalities, and pleonasms. H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 268. A relentless clock that has curbed the exuberant verbosity of many a lecturer before me. Nature, XXX. 135. “In fine,” added he, with his usual tautology, “it is right that a man should do his duty.” Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 279. The circumlocutions which are substituted for technical phrases are clear, neat, and exact. Macaulay, Dryden. As the master [Pope] had made it an axiom to avoid what was mean and low, so the disciples endeavored to escape from what was common. This they contrived by the ready expedient of the periphrasis. They called everything something else. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 392. Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. Irving. He [Wordsworth] … lacked the critical sagacity or the hardy courage to condemn and strip away his own redundancies. D. G. Mitchell, Bound Together, p. 194.

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T.H.S P.S. Your title piles plethora on pleonasm, Peleon upon Ossa. — F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 04-05 - October-November 1999
Over the years, I'm sure I've read it more for pleasure than with purpose, less in the hope of resolving a confusion over "pleonasm" than to discover that "pleonasm" was something at all. — Harper's Magazine
Since nectar is already the "drink of the gods", "nectar of the gods" is a pleonasm. — Althouse
The error of repeating the same thought in different words is called tautology_, while the use of more words than are necessary is known as pleonasm or redundancy_. — Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism
-- CURSUM EQUORUM: the word equos would have been sufficient; but this kind of pleonasm is common in Latin; see n. on Lael. — Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes

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tortuosity · euphonic · gramarye · reusability · indirectness · muchness · cloudland · circumlocution · buncombe · messiness · wordiness · wading

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Late Latin pleonasmus, from Greek pleonasmos, from pleonazein, to be excessive, from pleōn, more; see pelə-¹ in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (1)

= French pléonasme = Spanish Portuguese Italian pleonasmo, from Latin pleonasmus, from Greek πλεονασμός, abundance, exaggeration, in grammar pleonasm, from πλεονάξειν, be or have too much, abound, from πλέων,πλείων, more, comparative ofπολύς, much: See plus.

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