1. the use of more words than necessary to express an idea; redundancy in speech or writing
Usage: rhetoric; linguistics

Examples

• The phrase ‘free gift’ is a pleonasm since all gifts are free by definition.
• His writing was full of pleonasm, using phrases like ‘advance planning’ and ‘past history.’
• The teacher pointed out that ‘PIN number’ is a pleonasm because PIN already means personal identification number.
• She avoided pleonasm by editing out unnecessary words from her essay.
• The expression ‘close proximity’ is considered a pleonasm by many grammarians.
• Writers should be aware of pleonasm to make their prose more concise and effective.