tau·tol·o·gy

[taw-tol-uh-jee]
noun, plural tau·tol·o·gies.
1.
needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”
2.
an instance of such repetition.
3.
Logic.
a.
a compound propositional form all of whose instances are true, as “A or not A.”
b.
an instance of such a form, as “This candidate will win or will not win.”

Origin:
1570–80; < Late Latin tautologia < Greek tautología. See tauto-, -logy

tau·to·log·i·cal [tawt-l-oj-i-kuhl] , tau·to·log·ic, tau·tol·o·gous [taw-tol-uh-guhs] , adjective
tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, tau·tol·o·gous·ly, adverb
tau·tol·o·gist, noun
non·tau·to·log·i·cal, adjective
non·tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, adverb
un·tau·to·log·i·cal, adjective
un·tau·to·log·i·cal·ly, adverb

redundancy, tautology.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
tautology (tɔːˈtɒlədʒɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , pl -gies
1.  the use of words that merely repeat elements of the meaning already conveyed, as in the sentence Will these supplies be adequate enough? in place of Will these supplies be adequate?
2.  logic inconsistency Compare contingency a statement that is always true, esp a truth-functional expression that takes the value true for all combinations of values of its components, as in either the sun is out or the sun is not out
 
[C16: from Late Latin tautologia, from Greek, from tautologos]
 
tautological
 
adj
 
tauto'logic
 
adj
 
tau'tologous
 
adj
 
tauto'logically
 
adv
 
tau'tologously
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

tautology
1579, from L.L. tautologia "representation of the same thing" (c.350), from Gk. tautologia, from tautologos "repeating what has been said," from tauto "the same" + -logos "saying," related to legein "to say" (see lecture).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

tautology definition

logic
A proposition which is always true.
Compare: paradox.
The Linguistic Smarandache Tautologies, (http://gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/tautolog.txt).
(1999-07-28)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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Example sentences
From the beginning, the equidistance result was carelessly interpreted by a
  tautology, the constant mutation rate.
When corporations run governments, blaming the governments for the corporations
  ailments is a bit of a tautology.
As a matter of tautology, an appearance bond can be breached only by the
  nonappearance of the defendant.
It's a tautology designed to evade self-incrimination.
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