redundancy

noun

re·​dun·​dan·​cy ri-ˈdən-dən(t)-sē 

plural redundancies

1

a

: the quality or state of being redundant : superfluity

b

: the use of redundant components

also : such components

c

chiefly British : dismissal from a job especially by layoff

2

: profusion, abundance

3

a

: superfluous repetition : prolixity

b

: an act or instance of needless repetition

4

: the part of a message that can be eliminated without loss of essential information

Did you know?

Redundancy, closely related to redound, has stayed close to the original meaning of "overflow" or "more than necessary". Avoiding redundancy is one of the prime rules of good writing. ""In the modern world of today" contains a redundancy; so does "He died of fatal wounds" and "For the mutual benefit of both parties". But redundancy doesn't just occur in language. "Data redundancy" means keeping the same computer data in more than one place as a safety measure, and a backup system in an airplane may provide redundancy, again for the sake of safety.

Synonyms of redundancy

• repetition
• repetitiveness
• verbosity
• wordiness
• prolixity
• diffusion
• diffuseness
• wordage
• logorrhea
• circumlocution

Examples of redundancy in a Sentence

Avoid redundancy in your writing.

Try to avoid using redundancies in your writing.

The design incorporates several redundancies.

a system with a high level of redundancy

The restructuring is expected to result in the redundancy of several hundred workers.

The workers are now facing redundancy.

Recent Examples on the Web

The company has long invested in the technical infrastructure underpinning its feeds, creating a streaming backbone full of redundancies for Thursday Night Football and commissioning two new production trucks—nicknamed Bird and Magic—for its traveling NBA shows. —Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 15 Apr. 2026

Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s interim director general, announced the redundancy proposals in an all-staff call on Wednesday afternoon local time. —Jake Kanter, Deadline, 15 Apr. 2026

According to The Guardian, staff at the broadcaster were to be informed of the cuts on Wednesday afternoon in an all-staff meeting, with interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies expected to announce the redundancies. —Alex Ritman, Variety, 15 Apr. 2026

Infrastructure investors are increasingly willing to put near-term profits as a secondary consideration to redundancy and security, Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli told me. —Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 14 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1601, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

redundancy

noun

re·​dun·​dan·​cy ri-ˈdən-dən-sē 

plural redundancies

1

: the quality or state of being redundant

2

a

: the use of unnecessary words

b

: an act or instance of needless repetition