as in repetition
a statement in which you repeat a word, idea, etc., in a way that is not necessary
"A beginner who has just started" is a tautology.
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Recent Examples of tautology
That tautology, in the age of Trump, is now a matter of judicial precedent.
—
Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2025
Saying ‘Hungary is for Hungarians’ or ‘America is for Americans’ is a tautology.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
Sadaf spouts a tautology — faith as faith — that also holds for patriotism.
—Armond White, National Review, 22 Jan. 2025
Yes, a win is a win, but tautologies aside, for the Niners, a win with Purdy playing like one of the finest quarterbacks in the NFL on Sunday would speak volumes.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 25 Oct. 2024
The goal was to market something in every category, which led to the occasional tautology.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2025
Saying ‘Hungary is for Hungarians’ or ‘America is for Americans’ is a tautology.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
Sadaf spouts a tautology — faith as faith — that also holds for patriotism.
—Armond White, National Review, 22 Jan. 2025
Yes, a win is a win, but tautologies aside, for the Niners, a win with Purdy playing like one of the finest quarterbacks in the NFL on Sunday would speak volumes.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 25 Oct. 2024
The goal was to market something in every category, which led to the occasional tautology.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 22 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tautology
Noun
-
Through repetition, Dinand does not dilute meaning.—
Sudhir Gupta,
Rolling Stone,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Power is exercised openly, justified retrospectively, and normalized through repetition.—
Alejandro Reyes,
Washington Post,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Remaining on stage with gracious verbalism, Batiste first acknowledged the nominees.—
Allison Hazel,
Essence,
9 June 2021
Noun
-
The repetitiveness of the plot is not helped by the many montages writer-director Yandy Laurens uses as shortcuts, instead of writing scenes that show how the central relationship is developing.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
15 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Now that’s some extreme circularity.—
Alexei Oreskovic,
Fortune,
29 Jan. 2026
-
At the end of life, the materials are engineered to facilitate circularity.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
And Vonn was already, without hyperbole, the biggest star of these Olympics.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Cramer was using hyperbole to make a point.—
Natasha Abellard,
CNBC,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
By restricting autonomous drones to a single RGB camera and an IMU, the league aims to push progress through software rather than hardware redundancy.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Feb. 2026
-
The aircraft, which has only 18 moving parts, is full of redundancy to prevent system failures.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tautology.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tautology. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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