Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: Late Latin
Origin: tautologia, from Greek, from tautologos 'repeating things', from tauto 'same' + legein 'to say'

tautology

 noun
     
tau‧tol‧o‧gy plural tautologies [uncountable and countable] technical
a statement in which you say the same thing twice using different words in a way which is not necessary, for example, 'He sat alone by himself.' [↪ redundant]
—tautological also tautologous adjective
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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