English

Adjective

pleonastic ‎(comparative more pleonastic, superlative most pleonastic)

1. Of, or relating to pleonasm.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 319:

     A second class of Subject Expressions in English are so-called pleonastic pronouns such as it and there in sentences like:
     (104) (a) It is raining/It is a long way to Dallas/Itʼs time to leave/It is obvious that youʼre right
     (104) (b) There must have been some mistake/There walked into the room the most beautiful woman I had ever encountered
     These Pronouns are called ‘pleonasticʼ (which means ‘redundantʼ) in traditional grammar because (in their ‘pleonasticʼ use, but not in other uses) they are felt to be (in some vague intuitive sense) ‘semantically emptyʼ, and thus cannot have their reference questioned (cf. ^✽What is raining? ^✽Where must have been some mistake?).

2. Using an excessive number of words; especially using different words having the same meaning.

Synonyms

• redundant
• See also Wikisaurus:verbose

Translations

Anagrams

• neoplastic