Pleonasms or Tautological Redundancies

(avoid redundancies or excessive repetitiousness by not using unnecessary repetitions and superfluous words or more word usages than is needed, desired, or required)

The use of pleonasms results in a superfluity of words, sometimes deliberately, for emphasis; or the unnecessary repetitions resulting from a lack of the realization that such terms are redundant.

A tautological statement, sentence, etc. repeats its meaning in an unnecessary or excessive way by using different words to say the same thing.

* The pleonasms followed by an asterisk (*) came from an essay, "The Affluent Rich"; by Nat Boynton in his book, Media Rare. My special thanks to Mr. Jerry Gordon for contributing a copy of the essay so I could go through it and pick out the "UR's" (Unnecessary Redundancies) or pleonasms.

Please contribute any pleonasms you may come across from any of the media and let's make this list even more significant as it expands. You may send your suggestion, or suggestions, to e-mail contact or use this e-mail address: [email protected]

forced compulsion
foreign imports
former graduate (of an educational institution) *
former veteran *
forward planning
founder and sink
Founder means to "sink below the surface".
frank candor *
free gift
free gratis
freezing cold
frozen ice
frozen tundra
Tundra means, "level, or nearly level, treeless plain between the ice cap and the timber line of North America, Europe, and Asia; which has permanently frozen subsoil".
full satisfaction
gather together
give and bequeath

Also see the unit of pleio-, plio- words meaning, "more, most; excessive; multiple".