Pleonasm Definition and Examples in English

Pleonasm is the use of more words than are necessary to make a point. Pleonasm may serve as a rhetorical strategy to emphasize an idea or image. Used unintentionally, it may also be viewed as a stylistic fault. Etymology: From the Greek, excessive, abundant Examples and Observations: The most unkindest cut of all.(William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)In the farmhouse I saw, with my own eyes, this sight: there was a man, of young age and graceful proportion, whose body had been torn limb from limb. The torso was here, an arm there, a leg there. . . .All this I saw with my own eyes, and it was the most fearsome sight I ever witnessed. (Michael Chrichton, Eaters of the Dead. Random House, 1976)These terrible things I have seen with my own eyes, and I have heard with my own ears, and touched with my own hands.(Isabel Allende, City of the Beasts. Rayo, 2002)As a rhetorical figure, [a pleonasm] gives an utterance an additional semantic dimension, as in Hamlets 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, Ple onasm, 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)George Carlins Department of Pleonasms and RedundanciesI needed a new beginning, so I decided to pay a social visit to a personal friend with whom I share the same mutual objectives and who is one of the most unique individuals I have ever personally met. The end result was an un ­expected surprise. When I reiterated again to her the fact that I needed a fresh start, she said I was exactly right; and, as an added plus, she came up with a fi ­nal solution that was absolutely perfect.Based on her past experience, she felt we needed to join together in a com ­mon bond for a combined total of twenty-four hours a day, in order to find some new initiatives. What a novel innovation! And, as an extra bonus, she presented me with the free gift of a tuna fish. Right away I noticed an immedi ­ate positive improvement. And although my recovery is not totally complete, the sum total is I feel much better now knowing I am not uniquely alone.(George Carlin, Count the Superfluous Redundant Pleonastic Tautologies. When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? Hyperion, 2004)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)Its dà ©jà   vu all over again.(attributed to Yogi Berra) See also: BattologyCommon RedundanciesGeorge Carlins Essential DrivelRedundancyRepetitionTautology