Dictionary

tautology en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /toːˈtɔləd͡ʒi/ (Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard)
• /tɑˈtɑləd͡ʒi/ (cot-caught-merger)
• /tɔːˈtɒləd͡ʒi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /tɔˈtɑləd͡ʒi/ without the cot–caught merger
• (General-American) audio cot-caught
• /tɔˈtɔləd͡ʒe/ (Scotland)

Etymology

From Late Latin tautologia, from Ancient Greek ταὐτολογία (tautología) from ταὐτός (tautós, “the same”) + λόγος (lógos, “explanation”). By surface analysis, tauto- + -logy.

Meanings

1. (rhetoric, uncountable) Redundant use of words, a pleonasm, an unnecessary and tedious repetition.
   • It is tautology to say, "Forward Planning".
2. (countable, rhetoric) An expression that features tautology.
   • Pure mathematics consists of tautologies, analogous to ‘men are men’, but usually more complicated. 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy:
   • The expression "raze to the ground" is a tautology, since the word "raze" includes the notion "to the ground".
3. (countable, qualifier:propositional logic) A statement that is true for all truth values of its propositional variables.
4. (countable, qualifier:first-order logic) A statement that is true for all truth values of its Boolean atoms.

Forms

Antonyms

contradiction in terms (antonym(s) of) · contradiction (antonym(s) of “in logic”) · oxymoron (antonym(s) of “literary”)

Coordinates

contingency (in logic) · contradiction (in logic)

Deriveds

tautism (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologously (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologise (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologous (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologize (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologically (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautological (terms derived from tautology (noun)) · tautologist (terms derived from tautology (noun))

Relateds

pleonasm · redundancy

Translations (82)

pt redundância (expression that features tautology) · uk тавтоло́гія (uncountable: redundant use of words) · sh tautologija (expression that features tautology) · sk tautológia (in logic) · da tautologi (in logic) · es pleonasmo (uncountable: redundant use of words) · is sísanna (in logic) · oc tautologia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · zh 废话 (expression that features tautology) · ja 同語反復 (uncountable: redundant use of words) · es redundancia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · pl tautologia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · fi tautologia (expression that features tautology) · pl pleonazm (uncountable: redundant use of words) · es pleonasmo (expression that features tautology) · sv tautologi (expression that features tautology) · ja 恒真式 (in logic) · el ταυτολογία (expression that features tautology) · zh 套套逻辑 (expression that features tautology) · fr pléonasme (expression that features tautology) · tl pagpapaliguy-ligoy (uncountable: redundant use of words) · nl tautologie (in logic) · ja トートロジー (expression that features tautology) · es tautología (in logic) · pl tautologia (in logic) · pt tautologia (in logic) · de Tautologie (expression that features tautology) · es redundancia (expression that features tautology) · sh tautologija (in logic) · el πλεονασμός (uncountable: redundant use of words) · ja トートロジー (in logic) · mk тавтологија (expression that features tautology) · da tautologi (expression that features tautology) · fr tautologie (uncountable: redundant use of words) · sv tautologi (uncountable: redundant use of words) · es tautología (uncountable: redundant use of words) · fr lapalissade (expression that features tautology) · gl tautoloxía (uncountable: redundant use of words) · el ταυτολογία (in logic) · pl masło maślane (uncountable: redundant use of words) · sv tautologi (in logic) · it tautologia (in logic) · ro tautologie (uncountable: redundant use of words) · cs tautologie (in logic) · de Pleonasmus (uncountable: redundant use of words) · fi toisto (expression that features tautology) · ro tautologie (expression that features tautology) · fi pleonasmi (uncountable: redundant use of words) · bg повторение (uncountable: redundant use of words) · uk тавтоло́гія (expression that features tautology) · gd ath-bhriathrachas (uncountable: redundant use of words) · pt pleonasmo (expression that features tautology) · fr tautologie (in logic) · ca tautologia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · ru тавтоло́гия (uncountable: redundant use of words) · zh 套套邏輯 /套套逻辑 (expression that features tautology) · pt tautologia (expression that features tautology) · sh zalihost (uncountable: redundant use of words) · uk тавтоло́гія (in logic) · nl tautologie (expression that features tautology) · de Tautologie (in logic) · fr tautologie (expression that features tautology) · sh redundancija (uncountable: redundant use of words) · el ταυτολογία (uncountable: redundant use of words) · fi tautologia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · pt pleonasmo (uncountable: redundant use of words) · zh 廢話 /废话 (expression that features tautology) · da tautologi (uncountable: redundant use of words) · es tautología (expression that features tautology) · ca tautologia (in logic) · fr truisme (expression that features tautology) · ro pleonasm (uncountable: redundant use of words) · hu tautológia (in logic) · pt redundância (uncountable: redundant use of words) · pt tautologia (uncountable: redundant use of words) · it tautologia (expression that features tautology) · ja トートロジー (uncountable: redundant use of words) · fi tautologia (in logic) · mk тавтологија (in logic) · hu tautológia (expression that features tautology) · ro pleonasm (expression that features tautology) · ja 同語反復 (expression that features tautology)