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.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tautology
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
In this tautology, the act of spending is proof that the spending is justified.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 17 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
In other words, the industry is asking the world to engage in something like a trillion-dollar tautology: AI’s world-transformative potential justifies spending any amount of resources, because its evangelists will spend any amount to make AI transform the world.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 29 July 2024
In his world view, doomed romanticism isn’t an oxymoron but a tautology: to experience love deep within one’s bones comes at the cost of one’s earthly comforts and worldly aspirations, even one’s life.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
At first, the subjective theory might be misunderstood as a tautology – market goods are worth what people will pay for them.
—Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
Too often, analysts of these anticorruption drives fall into a tautology, assuming that anyone purged for graft by an autocrat must have been an enemy of the autocrat to begin with—otherwise, why would they have been purged?
—Andrew Leber, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2017
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
In this tautology, the act of spending is proof that the spending is justified.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 17 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
In other words, the industry is asking the world to engage in something like a trillion-dollar tautology: AI’s world-transformative potential justifies spending any amount of resources, because its evangelists will spend any amount to make AI transform the world.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 29 July 2024
In his world view, doomed romanticism isn’t an oxymoron but a tautology: to experience love deep within one’s bones comes at the cost of one’s earthly comforts and worldly aspirations, even one’s life.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
At first, the subjective theory might be misunderstood as a tautology – market goods are worth what people will pay for them.
—Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
Too often, analysts of these anticorruption drives fall into a tautology, assuming that anyone purged for graft by an autocrat must have been an enemy of the autocrat to begin with—otherwise, why would they have been purged?
—Andrew Leber, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tautology
Noun
-
One was a perfectionist who gave performances of stunning power that sometimes became smoothed out and even bland through repetition; the other was full of surprises—always discovering things, a sensibility always in the making.—
David Denby,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2025
-
Goode almost always worked in a series — for instance, making multiple sculptures of staircases whose orderly repetition of rectilinear treads and risers put a domestic tongue firmly in the industrial cheek of Minimalist art’s crisp geometry.—
Christopher Knight,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Please ignore the exaggerated political hyperbole and keep in mind her passion for helping others.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
29 Mar. 2025
-
That’s not hyperbole — literally no other RPGs blend humanism and sci-fi with philosophy, reflections on grief, and religious commentary the way Tetsuya Takahashi and his writers have for the last 30 years.—
Josh Broadwell,
Rolling Stone,
18 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
There’s inherently a lot of redundancy in reporting, because many outlets cover the same momentous happenings, and seek to do so from multiple angles.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2025
-
And there are redundancies if a pilot or controller starts to do something wrong.—
Alexandra Skores,
CNN Money,
29 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tautology.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tautology. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share