Tautology, often regarded as a fault of style, was defined by Fowler as "saying the same thing twice". In fact, it is not necessary for the entire meaning of a phrase to be repeated; if a part of the meaning is repeated in such a way that it appears as unintentional or clumsy, then it may be described as tautology. On the other hand, a repetition of meaning which improves the style of a piece of speech or writing is not usually described as tautology, although it may be a logical tautology. Below is a discussion of various patterns of semantic repetition and to what extent they are tautologies. Ta ...

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Tautology, Tautology - Tautology, Tautology - Examples of tautology, Tautology - Repetitions of meaning in mixed language phrases, Tautology - Repetition of an abbreviated word, Tautology - Intentional repetition of meaning, Tautology - Pop culture examples of tautology, Tautology - Logical tautologies, Tautology - Discovering tautologies

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Tautology, Tautology - Logical tautologies, Tautology - Subtlety, Tautology - Grammatical tautologies, Tautology - Mixed Language Tautologies, Tautology - Acronym Tautologies, Tautology - Intentional Tautologies, Tautology - Pop Culture Examples of Tautology

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A logical tautology is a statement that is true regardless of the truth values of its parts. For example, the statement "All crows are either black, or they are not black," is a tautology, because it is true no matter what color crows are. Expressing this formally, as a proposition with X representing "All crows are black" would give which is identically true because regardless of whether or not X is true, one of the disjuncts would be true, making the whole thing true. A statement that is always false regardless of the truth ...

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Tautology, Tautology - Tautology, Tautology - Examples of tautology, Tautology - Repetitions of meaning in mixed language phrases, Tautology - Repetition of an abbreviated word, Tautology - Intentional repetition of meaning, Tautology - Pop culture examples of tautology, Tautology - Logical tautologies, Tautology - Discovering tautologies

Read more here: » Tautology: Encyclopedia II - Tautology - Logical tautologies

A circular definition is one that assumes a prior understanding of the term being defined. For instance, we can define "oak" as a tree which has catkins and grows from an acorn, and then define "acorn" as the nut produced by an oak tree. To someone not knowing either which trees are oaks or which nuts are acorns, the definition is fairly useless. A circular definition occurred in an early definition of the kilogram. The kilogram was originally defined as the mass of one litre of water at standard pressure and the temperature at ...

Including:

Circular definition - Shortest possible circular definition

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"Survival of the fittest" is often claimed to be a tautology (i.e. it is a statement which is true by its own definition, and is therefore fundamentally uninformative). This is the case if fitness is measured in terms of survival. The first reaction to this is that "survival of the fittest" is a poor way to think about evolution and most modern biologists prefer and almost exclusively use the term natural selection in preference. However, if "natural selection" is simply substituted for "survival of the ...

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Survival of the fittest, Survival of the fittest - History of the phrase, Survival of the fittest - Is survival of the fittest a tautology?, Survival of the fittest - Survival of the fittest and morality

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Normal (tautologous) structure for binary variables p, q, and r, shown in Fig. 1 for five variables, can be defined as Y = (p 1 q) & (q 1 r) where 1 signifies the logical operator of tautology. Since Y is a unit vector, tautologous structures do not have to be rectified. To get binomial coefficients approximating the normal distribution, add the p, q, and r truth values. The intercorrelations of the p, q, and r variables form an identity matrix shown below. ...

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Homogeneity psychometrics, Homogeneity psychometrics - Tautologous lattices: reliability and homogeneity coefficients equal to zero, Homogeneity psychometrics - Equivalential lattices: reliability equals one homogeneity is less than one., Homogeneity psychometrics - Implicational lattices: homogeneity equals one reliability is less than one, Homogeneity psychometrics - Logical relationships among variables, Homogeneity psychometrics - Test homogeneity

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While the British economist Herbert Spencer is often credited with introducing the phrase "survival of the fittest" in his 1851 work Social Statics (relating to free market economics) or his First Principles of a New system of Philosophy of 1862, he actually did not use the phrase until after reading Darwin's Origin of Species. and introduced it in his Principles of Biology of 1864, vol. 1, p. 444, writing "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called "natural selection, ...

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Survival of the fittest, Survival of the fittest - History of the phrase, Survival of the fittest - Is survival of the fittest a tautology?, Survival of the fittest - Survival of the fittest and morality

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The above theoretical data structures define the prototypical logical relationships among variables, extending the data analysis by incorporating function of the propositional calculus. For the case of the implicational scales, the logical relationships involved and the subsequent rectification of the incipient tautological plenum are depicted in more detail in Table 1. In the above table, the logical function used for abstraction of the implicational data structure from the matrix of all possible response patterns to a set of three binary varia ...

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Homogeneity psychometrics, Homogeneity psychometrics - Tautologous lattices: reliability and homogeneity coefficients equal to zero, Homogeneity psychometrics - Equivalential lattices: reliability equals one homogeneity is less than one., Homogeneity psychometrics - Implicational lattices: homogeneity equals one reliability is less than one, Homogeneity psychometrics - Logical relationships among variables, Homogeneity psychometrics - Test homogeneity

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Parallel (equivalential) structure for binary variables p, q, and r can be defined as y = (p = q) & (q = r). When rectified (according to the values of the rectifying variable Y), you can get step scale such as shown in Fig. 2 for eight variables. Intercorrelations for this type of abstract data are shown below: ...

See also:

Homogeneity psychometrics, Homogeneity psychometrics - Tautologous lattices: reliability and homogeneity coefficients equal to zero, Homogeneity psychometrics - Equivalential lattices: reliability equals one homogeneity is less than one., Homogeneity psychometrics - Implicational lattices: homogeneity equals one reliability is less than one, Homogeneity psychometrics - Logical relationships among variables, Homogeneity psychometrics - Test homogeneity

Read more here: » Homogeneity psychometrics: Encyclopedia II - Homogeneity psychometrics - Equivalential lattices: reliability equals one homogeneity is less than one.

Most acronymic redundancies result from following the acronym with a word or synonym of a word that the acronym is made of (this is known jokingly as "RAS syndrome"; see that entry for many more examples that those given below): ABS system: All our cars come installed with the ABS system. ATM (or ABM) machine: I just need to get some money from the ATM machine. CSS style sheet: We're now using CSS style sheets on our website. CD ...

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List of redundant expressions, List of redundant expressions - Introduction, List of redundant expressions - Common redundancies, List of redundant expressions - Acronyms

Read more here: » List of redundant expressions: Encyclopedia II - List of redundant expressions - Acronyms

This is shorter than the example most commonly cited: Recursion See "Recursion". not just because it uses shorter words, but also because the circularity kicks in one word earlier. ...

See also:

Circular definition, Circular definition - Shortest possible circular definition

Read more here: » Circular definition: Encyclopedia II - Circular definition - Shortest possible circular definition

Some of the most common examples include: ABS system = Anti-lock Braking System system AC current = Alternating Current current ARC computing = Advanced RISC Computing computing = Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computing computing ASB Bank = Auckland Savings Bank Bank ASCII code = American Standard Code for Information Interchange ...

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RAS syndrome, RAS syndrome - Examples, RAS syndrome - Not redundant, RAS syndrome - Reasons for use, RAS syndrome - Honorable Mention

Read more here: » RAS syndrome: Encyclopedia II - RAS syndrome - Examples

Semantic pleonasm is more a question of style and usage than grammar. Linguists usually call this redundancy to avoid confusion with syntactic pleonasm, a more important phenomenon for theoretical linguistics. It can take various forms, including: Overlap: One word's semantic component is subsumed by the other: "Receive a free gift with every purchase." "I ate a tuna fish sandwich." Prolixity: A phrase may have words which add nothing, or nothing ...

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Pleonasm, Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage, Pleonasm - Syntactic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Subtler redundancies, Pleonasm - Other forms, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm and context, Pleonasm - Pleonasms in literature

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This is a list of common redundant expressions, phrases which implicitly repeat an idea or use words which add nothing to the meaning, and sentences in which they might be used, organized alphabetically by phrase. NOTE: Many of these expressions are redundant only when certain assumptions are made, and if those assumptions are false for the situation being described, then the expressions are not redundant. The presence of an example does not deem it "incorrect" or necessarily preclude its use in speech or wr ...

See also:

List of redundant expressions, List of redundant expressions - Introduction, List of redundant expressions - Common redundancies, List of redundant expressions - Acronyms

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The most obvious reason for using an acronym in this way is that it has become (or been mistaken for) a word in its own right; the speaker may not know the original expansion, or may know it as the etymology but consider it irrelevant to modern usage. One acronym which has become a word is laser, which originally stood for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, but has become so much a part of common vocabulary that a verb form, "to lase", meaning to emit a laser ...

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RAS syndrome, RAS syndrome - Examples, RAS syndrome - Not redundant, RAS syndrome - Reasons for use, RAS syndrome - Honorable Mention

Read more here: » RAS syndrome: Encyclopedia II - RAS syndrome - Reasons for use

Along the same lines, "please RSVP", which can be seen to be redundant once it is realised that RSVP comes from the French phrase répondez s'il-vous-plaît, which translates literally as "respond if it pleases you", or more idiomatically, "please respond". Also worth note is the restaurant chain, TGI Fridays, who somehow overcame any urge to name themselves TGIF Fridays, the way both the cliché and their name are sometimes misused. The 1970s saw Strategic Arms Limitations Talk between the US and the USSR, aimed at producing a series of Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties, also referred to, resp ...

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RAS syndrome, RAS syndrome - Examples, RAS syndrome - Not redundant, RAS syndrome - Reasons for use, RAS syndrome - Honorable Mention

Read more here: » RAS syndrome: Encyclopedia II - RAS syndrome - Honorable Mention

Often pleonasm is understood to mean an excess word or phrase which is unnecessary, clichéd, or wrong. But a pleonasm can also be simply an unremarkable use of idiom. It can even aid in achieving a particular linguistic effect, be it social, poetic, or literary. In other words, pleonasm sometimes serves the same function as rhetorical repetition—it reinforces a point, and makes the writing clearer and easier to understand. Further, pleonasm can serve as a kind of redundancy check. If a word is unknown, misunderstood, or misheard, o ...

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Pleonasm, Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage, Pleonasm - Syntactic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Subtler redundancies, Pleonasm - Other forms, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm and context, Pleonasm - Pleonasms in literature

Read more here: » Pleonasm: Encyclopedia II - Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage

Syntactic pleonasm occurs when the grammar of a language makes certain function words optional. For example, consider the following English sentences: "I know you are coming." "I know that you are coming." In this construction, the conjunction that is optional when joining a sentence to a verb phrase with know. Both sentences are grammatically correct, but the word ...

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Pleonasm, Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage, Pleonasm - Syntactic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Subtler redundancies, Pleonasm - Other forms, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm and context, Pleonasm - Pleonasms in literature

Read more here: » Pleonasm: Encyclopedia II - Pleonasm - Syntactic pleonasm

Often pleonasm is understood to mean an excess word or phrase which is unnecessary, clichéd, or wrong. But a pleonasm can also be simply an unremarkable use of idiom. It can even aid in achieving a particular linguistic effect, be it social, poetic, or literary. In other words, pleonasm sometimes serves the same function as rhetorical repetition — it reinforces a point, and makes the writing clearer and easier to understand. Further, pleonasm can serve as a kind of redundancy check. If a word is unknown, misunderstood, or misheard, ...

See also:

Pleonasm, Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage, Pleonasm - Syntactic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm, Pleonasm - Subtler redundancies, Pleonasm - Other forms, Pleonasm - Semantic pleonasm and context, Pleonasm - Pleonasms in literature

Read more here: » Pleonasm: Encyclopedia II - Pleonasm - Pleonasm usage

Hierarchical (implicational) structure for binary variables p, q, and r can be defined as y = (p -> q) & (q -> r). When rectified (according to the values of the rectifying variable Y), you can get the implicational (Guttman) scale such as shown in Fig. 3 for eight variables. Intercorrelations for this type of abstract data are shown below This type of abstract correlati ...

See also:

Homogeneity psychometrics, Homogeneity psychometrics - Tautologous lattices: reliability and homogeneity coefficients equal to zero, Homogeneity psychometrics - Equivalential lattices: reliability equals one homogeneity is less than one., Homogeneity psychometrics - Implicational lattices: homogeneity equals one reliability is less than one, Homogeneity psychometrics - Logical relationships among variables, Homogeneity psychometrics - Test homogeneity

Read more here: » Homogeneity psychometrics: Encyclopedia II - Homogeneity psychometrics - Implicational lattices: homogeneity equals one reliability is less than one