n., pl., -gies.
- Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.
- An instance of such repetition.
- Logic. An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain tomorrow.
[Late Latin tautologia, from Greek tautologiā, from tautologos, redundant : tauto-, tauto- + logos, saying; see -logy.]
tautological tau'to·log'i·cal (tôt'l-ŏj'ĭ-kəl) or tau'to·log'ic (-ĭk) adj.tautologically tau'to·log'i·cal·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
