ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Pleonasm

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /ˈpliː.əˌnæz.əm/ · Part of speech noun

Quick meaning: Pleonasm is a noun meaning (uncountable, rhetoric) Redundancy in wording.

Meaning

(uncountable, rhetoric) Redundancy in wording.

More Meanings

  1. (countable) A phrase involving pleonasm; a phrase containing one or more words which are redundant because their meaning is expressed elsewhere in the phrase.

Example Sentences

St. Jerome and St. Augustine are both sparing in the employment of the device of pleonasm.
My salvation is in my Saviour who saveth me hence the redundancy and pleonasm of my asseveration.
Indeed, pleonasm, the use of superfluous or redundant words, is only part of the broader features of that style, the expressions of which have been so thoroughly analyzed by Franz Neirynck² and which for convenience will here be referred to as "dualisms."

Word Forms

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include pleonast, tautology, circumlocution, periphrasis, reticence, agnomination.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

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