User:KnowledgeHegemonyPart2/Redundant phrases

This is an alphabetical list of some English language phrases which may repeat an idea, or use words which could be grammatically left out without changing the meaning. (See the article on pleonasm for a more in-depth discussion of rhetorical redundancy.)

Although redundancy is a bugbear for the punctilious, the use of such expressions can be stylistically valid. Some may be integral to particular dialects or idioms, and each must be assessed in context — linguistic and social — by the standards one applies to that context.

Conventions used in this article: A possibly redundant portion of each example expression in the list below is indicated by striking-through portions of the example (as in "this phrase is redundantly redundant"). In many of the expressions below, this is done in an arbitrary fashion (for example "estimated at about 1000", from which either "estimated at" or "about" could reasonably be removed).

Many of these examples are not universally agreed to be redundant (some have clarifying usage notes expressing this in more detail). Their redundancy can be tenuous, specific to a particular context, or dependent on the assumption of background knowledge. The expressions are not necessarily noteworthy in any way other than their alleged redundancy. The list does not count simple repetition for emphasis, as in "I'm very, very hungry", nor linguistic 'exact reduplication', as in "it's time to say bye-bye", as examples of redundant phrases. The rhyming and ablaut forms of reduplication (e.g. "razzle-dazzle" or "tip-top", respectively) might be listed if they have a shorter, equivalent, non-redundant form and are not simply repetition to emphasize the point (as in "teeny-tiny").

References

• Individual entries, when a quote is available to source their usage in mainstream language, will be cited in situ.
• For a fully developed treatment of redundant language see the Pleonasm article; this list does not (redundantly) cite the same sources or link to the same reference works.

See also

• Pleonasm
• RAS syndrome
• Redundancy (language)
• Tautology
• List of tautological place names
• Double negative

External links

• Common errors in English
• Writer's Digest
• A List of Antioxymora
• Redundant Acronyms