What is the difference between pleonasm and tautology?

The two concepts overlap in the sense of needless verbosity/repetition. Pleonasm has a sense of using an unnecessary overabundance of redundant words in one description. Tautology has a sense of saying the exact same in different words, using multiple words with the same meaning.

What is meant by Pleonasm?

Definition of pleonasm 1 : the use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense (as in the man he said) : redundancy. 2 : an instance or example of pleonasm.

What is an example of pleonasm?

For example, “I like a smuggler. He is the only honest thief.” However, pleonasm is a combination of two or more words which are more than those required for clear expression. For example, “I saw it with my own eyes.”

What is difference between redundancy and tautology?

Redundancy is any kind of repetition: phrases, sentences, paragraphs, entire books, it’s all the same; the scale isn’t important. A tautology refers to phrasing that repeats a single meaning in identical words: They followed each other one after the other in succession.

What is another word for pleonasm?

In this page you can discover 16 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for pleonasm, like: verbosity, windiness, wordage, wordiness, excess, style, words, redundancy, verbiage, circumlocution and repetition.

What is the opposite of pleonasm?

Antonyms: brevity, compactness, compression, conciseness, condensation, directness, plainness, shortness, succinctness, terseness. Synonyms: circumlocution, diffuseness, periphrasis, prolixity, redundance, redundancy, surplusage, tautology, tediousness, verbiage, verbosity, wordiness.

What is tautology with example?

Tautology is the use of different words to say the same thing twice in the same statement. ‘The money should be adequate enough’ is an example of tautology.

What is periphrasis and examples?

Periphrasis is the use of more words to say something than are necessary. An example of periphrasis is someone saying they believe they are able to attend an event, rather than just saying “yes, I’ll be there.”

What is the meaning of tautology with example?

What is wrong with tautology?

A tautology is an expression or phrase that says the same thing twice, just in a different way. For this reason, tautology is usually undesirable, as it can make you sound wordier than you need to be and make you appear foolish.

What is the difference between a tautology and a pleonasm?

A tautology uses the same wording or precisely equivalent wording to make an semantically null statement, as in, “Big things are large.” No meaningful information is gleaned from a tautology. A pleonasm uses an excess of words to convey an idea. So while a pleonasm might include repetition, the gist of the statement will be meaningful.

Is ‘Burning’ Fire pleonastic or tautology?

The word ‘burning’ is an unnecessary modifier for ‘fire’ because all fire is burning, thus ‘burning fire’ is pleonastic. Interestingly, “all fire is burning” is a tautology, but, I would argue, not a pleonasm. Therein lies the rub, and likely the reason this distinction is such a difficult one to tease out.

What is an example of a pleonasm?

A pleonasm is an expression that uses more words than are necessary for clear expression, e.g. “That burning fire is hot.” The word ‘burning’ is an unnecessary modifier for ‘fire’ because all fire is burning, thus ‘burning fire’ is pleonastic. Interestingly, “all fire is burning” is a tautology, but, I would argue, not a pleonasm.

What is the meaning of verbosity in English?

Garrulous; loquacious; prolixity; fluency; verbosity; volubility. Garrulous- it means talking in rambling manner. Loquacious- it means talking freely. Prolixity- writing or speaking at great length even when it is unnecessary. Verbosity- to write or speak using more words when not needed.