What noun describes a redundant phrase like "temporary pause"?

Question

The phrase

temporary pause

is unnecessarily long; just 'pause' is enough.

Does a simple noun exist to use to describe this type of usage? 'Redundant' or 'wordy' are good adjectives but I can't think of a good simple noun. (suggesting 'redundant usage' isn't what I'm looking for). I'm looking for something analogous to 'oxymoron' but as it relates to the redundancy of the phrase.

Redundancy? ... – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Oct 19 '11 at 14:33 — Mr. Shiny and New 安宇, Oct 19 '11 at 14:33

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 19 '11 at 15:00

17

The 75 cent word you are looking for is

pleonasm

the use of more words than are necessary.

answered Oct 19 '11 at 15:00

Mitch

71,423

FumbleFingers · Answer 2 · 2011-10-19T23:56:04.013

It's an example of tautology

(Linguistics / Grammar) 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?

It's also redundancy, but that word has many other meanings beyond this specific sense. And pleonasm - far less common overall, and often occurs as pleonastic (referring to longer texts, or to people who habitually write in this way).

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 19 '11 at 14:38

4

I would just call it a redundancy. According to Dictionary.com:

noun
2. superfluous repetition or overlapping, especially of words.

answered Oct 19 '11 at 14:38

jimreed

4,520

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 19 '11 at 20:56

1

Not exactly what you're looking for, but turgid can be used to describe language that is unnecessarily complex or bloated.

answered Oct 19 '11 at 20:56

sans

111

What noun describes a redundant phrase like "temporary pause"?

4 Answers4

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