Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • 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.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Redundancy of language; the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea.
  • noun A redundant phrase or expression; an instance of redundancy of language.
  • noun In medicine, excess in number or size.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Rhet.) Redundancy of language in speaking or writing; the use of more words than are necessary to express the idea.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable, rhetoric Redundancy in wording.
  • noun 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.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun using more words than necessary

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

Comments

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  • Please RSVP. :)

    December 9, 2006

  • Big Rio Grande River,

    It flows down to the sea,

    Bringing back my memories of the past.

    High up on Table Mesa,

    I feel her nearness close to me

    As the evening sun sets in the West.

    - from "Big Rio Grande River" by Austin Lounge Lizards

    December 9, 2006

  • Good example pedalinfaith. I like "Miller MGD" myself.

    December 9, 2006

  • A most exemplary example of battology. ;)

    December 13, 2006

  • "PIN number" and "ATM machine" are my bêtes noires.

    December 13, 2006

  • irregardless

    January 24, 2007

  • "...Professor Lamort's felicitous pleonasm."

    - Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor.

    May 17, 2008

  • What was the felicitous pleonasm?

    May 19, 2008

  • It's kinda hard to read the comments on my LCD display. Maybe I should buy a new one.

    July 16, 2008

  • A pleonasma screen.

    July 16, 2008

  • Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition

    September 29, 2010

  • JM has never seen a pleonasm he doesn't like in all of his many years on this Earth.

    April 5, 2011

  • "If pleonasm is the soul of offense, at least I know when to shut up."

    The No Variations by Luis Chitarroni, translated by Darren Koolman, p 13

    September 16, 2013

  • "If pleonasm is the soul of offense, at least I know when to shut up."

    The No Variations by Luis Chitarroni, translated by Darren Koolman, p 13

    September 16, 2013