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Webster 1913 Edition


Pleonasm

Ple′o-nasm

,,
Noun.
[L.
pleonasmus
, Gr. [GREEK], fr. [GREEK] to be more than enough, to abound, fr.[GREEK], neut. of [GREEK], more, compar. of [GREEK] much. See
Full
, a., and cf.
Poly-
,
Plus
.]
(Rhet.)
Redundancy of language in speaking or writing; the use of more words than are necessary to express the idea;
as, I saw it
with my own eyes
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Pleonasm

PLE'ONASM

,
Noun.
[L. pleonasmus; Gr. full, more, L. pleo, in impleo, to fill.] Redundancy of words in speaking or writing; the use of more words to express ideas, than are necessary. This may be justifiable when we intend to present thoughts with particular perspicuity or force.

Definition 2024


pleonasm

pleonasm

English

Noun

pleonasm (countable and uncountable, plural pleonasms)

  1. (uncountable, rhetoric) Redundancy in wording.
    • 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford,
      My salvation is in my Saviour who saveth me hence the redundancy and pleonasm of my asseveration.
  2. (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.
    "The two of them are both the same" is a pleonasm (as the word "both" is redundant), as is the phrase "killed dead".

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