English Explanatory Dictionary

tautology

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Redundant use of words, a pleonasm, an unnecessary and tedious repetition.
  2. An expression that features tautology.
  3. A statement that is true for all truth values of its propositional variables.
  4. A statement that is true for all truth values of its Boolean atoms.

Pronunciation

/tɔˈtɒləd͡ʒi/ /toːˈtɔləd͡ʒi/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tautology.wav /tɔˈtɑləd͡ʒi/ /tɑˈtɑləd͡ʒi/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-tautology.wav /tɔˈtɔləd͡ʒe/

Word forms

tautology tautologies

Etymology

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

Antonyms

contradiction in terms contradiction oxymoron

Related words

pleonasm redundancy

Derived words

tautological tautologically tautologise tautologist tautologous tautologously

Translations

Catalan: tautologia Czech: tautologie Danish: tautologi Dutch: tautologie Finnish: tautologia French: tautologie German: Tautologie Greek: ταυτολογία Hungarian: tautológia Icelandic: sísanna Italian: tautologia Japanese: 恒真式 Japanese: トートロジー Macedonian: тавтологија Polish: tautologia Portuguese: tautologia Serbo-Croatian: tautologija Slovak: tautológia Spanish: tautología Swedish: tautologi Ukrainian: тавтоло́гія
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