tautology
[ taw-tol-uh-jee ]
/ tɔˈtɒl ə dʒi /
noun, plural tau·tol·o·gies.
needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”
an instance of such repetition.
Logic.
- a compound propositional form all of whose instances are true, as “A or not A.”
- an instance of such a form, as “This candidate will win or will not win.”
OTHER WORDS FROM tautology
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH tautology
redundancy tautologyWords nearby tautology
tauten,
tauto-,
tautog,
tautologism,
tautologize,
tautology,
tautomer,
tautomeric fiber,
tautomerism,
tautomerize,
tautonym
Example sentences from the Web for tautological
British Dictionary definitions for tautological
tautology
/ (tɔːˈtɒlədʒɪ) /
noun plural -gies
the use of words that merely repeat elements of the meaning already conveyed, as in the sentence Will these supplies be adequate enough? in place of Will these supplies be adequate?
logic
a statement that is always true, esp a truth-functional expression that takes the value true for all combinations of values of its components, as in either the sun is out or the sun is not out
Compare inconsistency (def. 3), contingency (def. 5)
Derived forms of tautology
tautological (ˌtɔːtəˈlɒdʒɪkəl), tautologic or tautologous, adjective tautologically or tautologously, adverbWord Origin for tautology
C16: from Late Latin
tautologia, from Greek, from
tautologos