pleonastic

Pleonastic describes language that contains pleonasm, or the use of more words than necessary to convey meaning. The term comes from the Greek pleon meaning “more” and is used in linguistics to classify forms or expressions that are redundant. Pleonasm can occur at the level of individual words, phrases, or syntactic structures.

There are two broad types of pleonastic usage. Lexical pleonasm involves redundant words that repeat a meaning already conveyed by other words, such as “free gift,” “PIN number,” or “true facts.” Syntactic pleonasm involves constructions where parts of the sentence serve a grammatical function rather than adding semantic content, such as expletive subjects and placeholders. Common examples include “It is raining” or “There are many students,” where the words “it” or “there” do not carry specific semantic meaning but fulfill structural requirements of English syntax.

In practice, pleonastic usage is often avoided in formal editing because it adds length without adding new information. However, it can appear intentionally for emphasis, rhythm, or idiomatic convention, and some phrases persist across varieties of English as conventional forms.

Related concepts include tautology (a statement that is true by necessity or by repeating the same idea) and redundancy (unnecessary repetition in language). The study of pleonasm helps linguists distinguish between stylistic choices and genuinely superfluous language, contributing to clearer communication and more precise editing.