pleonasm

From LSJ

Δεῖ τοὺς μὲν εἶναι δυστυχεῖς, τοὺς δ' εὐτυχεῖς → Aliis necesse est bene sit, aliis sit male → Die einen trifft das Unglück, andere das Glück

Menander, Monostichoi, 125

Wikipedia EN

Pleonasm (/ˈpliːənæzəm/; from Ancient Greek πλεονασμός, pleonasmós, from πλέον, pleon 'more; too much') is the use of more words or parts of words than are necessary or sufficient for clear expression (for instance, "black darkness", "burning fire"). Such redundancy is a manifestation of tautology by traditional rhetorical criteria, and might be considered a fault of style. Pleonasm may also be used for emphasis, or because the phrase has become established in a certain form. Tautology and pleonasm are not consistently differentiated in literature.

Most often, pleonasm is understood to mean a word or phrase which is useless, clichéd, or repetitive, but a pleonasm can also be simply an unremarkable use of idiom. It can aid in achieving a specific (sic) linguistic effect, be it social, poetic or literary. Pleonasm sometimes serves the same function as rhetorical repetition—it can be used to reinforce an idea, contention or question, rendering writing clearer and easier to understand. Pleonasm can serve as a redundancy check; if a word is unknown, misunderstood, misheard, or if the medium of communication is poor—a wireless telephone connection or sloppy handwriting—pleonastic phrases can help ensure that the meaning is communicated even if some of the words are lost.

Translations

af: pleonasme; an: pleonasmo; ar: تطويل; az: pleonazm; be_x_old: плеаназм; bg: плеоназъм; bn: শব্দবাহুল্য; bs: pleonazam; ca: pleonasme; cs: pleonasmus; da: pleonasme; de: Pleonasmus; en: pleonasm; eo: pleonasmo; es: pleonasmo; et: pleonasm; eu: pleonasmo; fr: pléonasme; gl: pleonasmo; he: פלאונזם; hr: pleonazam; hu: szószaporítás; hy: պլեոնազմ; id: pleonasme; io: pleonasmo; it: pleonasmo; ja: 冗語; ka: პლეონაზმი; kk: плеоназм; ky: плеоназм; lb: pleonasmus; li: pleonasme; mk: плеоназам; nl: pleonasme; nn: pleonasme; no: pleonasme; oc: pleonasme; pl: pleonazm; pt: pleonasmo; ro: pleonasm; ru: плеоназм; sh: pleonazam; sk: pleonazmus; sr: плеоназам; sv: pleonasm; uk: плеоназм; uz: pleonazm; zh: 贅語