tautology

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Digital download? isnt that what they call a tautology?

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.
  2. noun An instance of such repetition.
  3. noun Logic An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain tomorrow.

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Examples (50)

  • I have seen sometimes half one sheet of paper wrote of his judgment upon one question; in writing whereof he used much tautology, as you may see yourself, (most excellent Esquire) if you read a great book of Dr. Flood's, which you have, who had all that book from the manuscripts of Forman; for I have seen the same word for word in an English manuscript formerly belonging to Doctor Willoughby of Gloucestershire. —  William Lilly's History of His Life and Times
  • If a statement is a tautology, then it is certain that it is true. —  Daylight Atheism
  • He is often guilty when he speaks of God's gifts of that same sin of tautology, as for instance, 'Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all'--there are four of them--'all that we can ask or think.' —  Expositions of Holy Scripture Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John
  • When terms so related appear as subject and predicate of the same proposition, the result is often tautology--e.g., The master has authority over his slave; A horse is an animal; Red is not blue; British is not foreign_. —  Logic Deductive and Inductive
  • We should likewise be aware of tautology, which is a repetition of the same word or thought, or the use of many similar words or thoughts. —  The Training of a Public Speaker
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin tautologia, from Greek tautologiā, from tautologos, redundant : tauto-, tauto- + logos, saying; see -logy.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French tautologie = Spanish tautologyía = Portuguese Italian tautologia, from Latin tautologia, from Greek ταυτολογία, the repetition of the same thing, from ταυτολόγος, repeating the same thing, from ταὐτό, the same, + λέγειν, speak (see -ology).
 

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/tɔˈtɑlədʒi/
by American Heritage

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