tautology
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- (logic) a statement that is necessarily true“the statement ‘he is brave or he is not brave’ is a tautology”Type of truth, true statement
- useless and pointless repetition“to say that something is ‘adequate enough’ is a tautology”Type of repetitiveness, repetitiousness
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: L. tautologia, Gr. …: cf. F. tautologie.
Rhetoric A repetition of the same meaning in different words; needless repetition of an idea in different words or phrases; a representation of anything as the cause, condition, or consequence of itself, as in the following lines: — The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day. Joseph Addison
Synonyms: Repetition. — Tautology, Repetition. There may be frequent repetitions (as in legal instruments) which are warranted either by necessity or convenience; but tautology is always a fault, being a sameness of expression which adds nothing to the sense or the sound.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
<logic> A proposition which is always true.
Compare: paradox.
The Linguistic Smarandache Tautologies, (http://gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/tautolog.txt).
(1999-07-28)