pleonasm
Superfluous word use
Pleonasm is the use of more words than necessary to express an idea—redundancy for emphasis or by accident.
Free gift, PIN number, and past history are common pleonasms, since gifts are inherently free, PIN already contains "number," and history is always past.
Rhetoricians sometimes deploy pleonasm deliberately: I saw it with my own eyes.
The line between emphatic pleonasm and careless redundancy depends on intent and effect.
Redundant or circular statement
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- repetitionAct of redoing
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
- anaphoraRepeated opening words
parallelism · restatement · doubling · iteration · reiteration · emphasis · intensification · elaboration
Tedious lengthiness in speech
- wordinessExcessive use of language
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- garrulityExcessive, tedious talking
- loquacityExcessive inclination to speak
verbiage · diffuseness · logorrhea · long-windedness · windiness · discursiveness · rambling · padding
Exceeding what's needed
- superfluousExceeding what suffices
- unnecessaryNot essential or required
- extraneousNot pertinent or essential
- surplusAmount exceeding requirement
excess · overabundance · needless · gratuitous · dispensable · unneeded · otiose · expendable
tautology
Redundant or circular statement
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- repetitionAct of redoing
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
anaphora · parallelism · restatement · doubling · iteration · reiteration · emphasis · intensification · elaboration · expansion
prolixity
Tedious lengthiness in speech
- wordinessExcessive use of language
- circumlocutionIndirect, wordy expression
- garrulityExcessive, tedious talking
loquacity · verbiage · diffuseness · logorrhea · long-windedness · windiness · discursiveness · rambling · padding · bloat
redundant
Exceeding what's needed
- superfluousExceeding what suffices
- unnecessaryNot essential or required
- extraneousNot pertinent or essential
surplus · excess · overabundance · needless · gratuitous · dispensable · unneeded · otiose · expendable · inessential
- repetitionagain, repeat, repeated, recurring, recurrence
- bombastbombast, grandiloquence, magniloquence, pomposity, fustian
- Redundanciestautology, redundant phrase, added bonus, free gift, exact same
- semanticsmeaning, denotation, sense, connotation, reference
- language termsgrammar, word, vocabulary, syntax, synonym
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blarney, blather
pleonasmconciseness
Quality of being brief
terseness · brevity · succinctness · concision · pithiness