'Tautology' definitions:
Definition of 'tautology'
(from WordNet)
noun
(logic) a statement that is necessarily true; "the statement `he is brave or he is not brave' is a tautology"
noun
Useless repetition; "to say that something is `adequate enough' is a tautology"
Definition of 'Tautology'
From: GCIDE
- Tautology \Tau*tol"o*gy\, n. [L. tautologia, Gr. ?: cf. F. tautologie.] (Rhet.) A repetition of the same meaning in different words; needless repetition of an idea in different words or phrases; a representation of anything as the cause, condition, or consequence of itself, as in the following lines:
- The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Repetition.
- Usage: Tautology, Repetition. There may be frequent repetitions (as in legal instruments) which are warranted either by necessity or convenience; but tautology is always a fault, being a sameness of expression which adds nothing to the sense or the sound. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'tautology'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abundance,
- amplitude,
- battology,
- bedizenment,
- circumambages,
- circumbendibus,
- circumlocution,
- cloud of words,
- copiousness,
- diffuseness,
- diffusion,
- diffusiveness,
- duplication,
- duplication of effort,
- effusion,
- effusiveness,
- embellishment,
- expletive,
- extravagance,
- exuberance,
- fat,
- featherbedding,
- fecundity,
- fertility,
- filling,
- fluency,
- formlessness,
- frill,
- frills,
- frippery,
- gingerbread,
- gush,
- gushing,
- iteration,
- logorrhea,
- long-windedness,
- luxury,
- macrology,
- needlessness,
- ornamentation,
- outpour,
- overadornment,
- overflow,
- overlap,
- padding,
- palilogy,
- payroll padding,
- periphrase,
- periphrasis,
- pleonasm,
- prodigality,
- productivity,
- profuseness,
- profusion,
- prolificacy,
- prolificity,
- prolixity,
- rampancy,
- rankness,
- redundance,
- redundancy,
- reiteration,
- reiterativeness,
- repetition,
- repetition for effect,
- repetitiousness,
- repetitiveness,
- roundabout,
- stammering,
- stuttering,
- superabundance,
- superfluity,
- superfluousness,
- superflux,
- talkativeness,
- tautologism,
- teemingness,
- tirade,
- unnecessariness,
- verbality,
- verbiage,
- verbosity,
- wordiness