Definition:
The use of words to emphasize what is clear without them. Adjective: pleonastic. See also:
Etymology:
From the Greek, "excessive, abundant"Examples and Observations:
- "The most unkindest cut of all."
(William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar) - "As a rhetorical figure, [a pleonasm] gives an utterance an additional semantic dimension, as in Hamlet's dictum about his father: 'He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again' (Shakespeare. Hamlet, I.2.186-187), where 'man' contains the semantic markers (+ human) and (+ male) contained in 'father' and 'he,' but according to the context it has the specific meaning 'ideal man.'"
(Heinrich F. Plett, "Pleonasm," in Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001) - "pleonasm. Term in rhetoric for repetition or superfluous expression. Hence, in grammar, a category is sometimes said to be represented pleonastically if it is realized by more than one affix, word, etc."
(P.H. Matthews, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford Univ. Press, 1997) - Ears pierced while you wait.
- I forgot my PIN number for the ATM machine.
- "Many tautological (or tautologous) expressions occur in everyday usage. The tautology in some is immediately apparent: all well and good; to all intents and purposes; cool, calm, and collected . . .. In others, it is less obvious, because they contain archaic elements: by hook or by crook."
(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992) - "Dougan uses many words where few would do, as if pleonasm were a way of wringing every possibility out of the material he has, and stretching sentences a form of spreading the word."
(Paula Cocozza, review of How Dynamo Kiev Beat the Luftwaffe, in The Independent, March 2, 2001) - "It's déjà vu all over again."
(attributed to Yogi Berra)
Pronunciation: PLEE-en-IZ=em
Also Known As: pleonasmus, superabundancia, macrologia, tautology
