pleonasm

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin pleonasmus, from Ancient Greek πλεονασμός (pleonasmós), from πλεονάζω (pleonázō, “to be superfluous”), from πλείων (pleíōn, “more”).

noun

1. (uncountable, rhetoric) Redundancy in wording.
   St. Jerome and St. Augustine are both sparing in the employment of the device of pleonasm. 1939, John Nicholas Hritzu, The Style of the Letters of St. Jerome, Catholic University of America Press, page 5
   Indeed, pleonasm, the use of superfluous or redundant words, is only part of the broader features of that style, the expressions of which have been so thoroughly analyzed by Franz Neirynck² and which for convenience will here be referred to as "dualisms." 1989, Harold Riley, The Making of Mark: An Exploration, Mercer University Press, page 219
   My salvation is in my Saviour who saveth me hence the redundancy and pleonasm of my asseveration. 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford
2. (countable) A phrase involving pleonasm; a phrase containing one or more words which are redundant because their meaning is expressed elsewhere in the phrase.