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re·dun·dant
(rĭ-dŭn′dənt)
adj.
1. Exceeding what is necessary or natural; superfluous.
2. Needlessly wordy or repetitive in expression: a student paper filled with redundant phrases.
3. Of or relating to linguistic redundancy.
4. Chiefly British Dismissed or laid off from work, as for being no longer needed.
5. Electronics Of or involving redundancy in electronic equipment.
6. Of or involving redundancy in the transmission of messages.
7. Genetics
a. Made up of identical repeating nucleotide sequences that do not code for genes. Used of DNA.
b. Relating to or being a gene that has multiple codons for the same amino acid.
[Latin redundāns, redundant-, present participle of redundāre, to overflow : re-, red-, re- + undāre, to surge (from unda, wave; see wed- in Indo-European roots).]
re·dun′dant·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
redundant
(rɪˈdʌndənt)
adj
1. surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous
2. verbose or tautological
3. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) deprived of one’s job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operation: he has been made redundant.
4. (General Engineering) (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
5. (Electronics) (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
[C17: from Latin redundans overflowing, from redundāre to run back, stream over; see redound]
reˈdundantly adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
re•dun•dant
(rɪˈdʌn dənt)
adj.
1. characterized by verbosity or unnecessary repetition in expressing ideas.
2. exceeding what is usual or necessary: a redundant part.
3. superabundant or superfluous: lush, redundant vegetation.
4. (of a system, equipment, etc.) supplied as a backup, as in a spacecraft.
5. (of language or a linguistic feature) characterized by redundancy; predictable.
6. Chiefly Brit. being unemployed.
[1595–1605; < Latin redundant-, s. of redundāns, present participle of redundāre overflow, be excessive. See redound, -ant]
re•dun′dant•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj. | 1. | redundant — more than is needed, desired, or required; «trying to lose excess weight»; «found some extra change lying on the dresser»; «yet another book on heraldry might be thought redundant»; «skills made redundant by technological advance»; «sleeping in the spare room»; «supernumerary ornamentation»; «it was supererogatory of her to gloat»; «delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words»; «extra ribs as well as other supernumerary internal parts»; «surplus cheese distributed to the needy» |
2. | redundant — repetition of same sense in different words; «`a true fact’ and `a free gift’ are pleonastic expressions»; «the phrase `a beginner who has just started’ is tautological»; «at the risk of being redundant I return to my original proposition»- J.B.Conant
prolix — tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length; «editing a prolix manuscript»; «a prolix lecturer telling you more than you want to know» |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
redundant
adjective
2. superfluous, extra, surplus, excessive, unnecessary, unwanted, inordinate, inessential, supernumerary, de trop (French), supererogatory the conversion of redundant buildings to residential use
superfluous needed, necessary, essential, vital
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
redundant
adjective
Using or containing an excessive number of words:
The American Heritage® Roget’s Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
nadbytečnýpřebytečnýpropuštěný z práce
overflødig
irtisanottu
suvišan
létszám fölötti
atvinnulaus
余剰人員として解雇された
해고 당한
atleidimas iš darboatliekamasnebereikalingas
lieksnevajadzīgszaudējis darbu
överflödig
ซึ่งออกจากงาน
bị cho thôi việc
redundant
[rɪˈdʌndənt] ADJ
Collins Spanish Dictionary — Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
redundant
[rɪˈdʌndənt] adj
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
redundant
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
redundant
[rɪˈdʌnd/ənt] adj (Brit) (worker) → licenziato/a (per esubero di personale); (detail, object) → superfluo/a (Literature) → ridondante
to be made redundant (worker) → essere licenziato/a (perché in esubero)
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
redundant
(rəˈdandənt) adjective
(of workers) no longer employed because there is no longer any job for them where they used to work. Fifty men have just been made redundant at the local factory.
reˈdundancy – plural reˈdundancies – noun
There have been a lot of redundancies at the local factory recently; the problem of redundancy.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
redundant
→ مَصْرُوفٌ مِنَ الـخِدْمَة propuštěný z práce overflødig arbeitslos πλεονάζων despedir a alguien, superfluo irtisanottu licencié suvišan licenziato 余剰人員として解雇された 해고 당한 overtollig overflødig zbyteczny despedido, redundante избыточный överflödig ซึ่งออกจากงาน işten çıkarılmış bị cho thôi việc 多余的
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
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References in classic literature
?
The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up —flaked up, with rose-water snow.
It is allowed, that senates and great councils are often troubled with redundant, ebullient, and other peccant humours; with many diseases of the head, and more of the heart; with strong convulsions, with grievous contractions of the nerves and sinews in both hands, but especially the right; with spleen, flatus, vertigos, and deliriums; with scrofulous tumours, full of fetid purulent matter; with sour frothy ructations: with canine appetites, and crudeness of digestion, besides many others, needless to mention.
The result is massacre; not, however, without its advantages, as it eliminates the more brutal and troublesome of the Isosceles; and by many of our Circles the destructiveness of the Thinner Sex is regarded as one among many providential arrangements for suppressing redundant population, and nipping Revolution in the bud.
The Typee girls devote much of their time to the dressing of their fair and redundant locks.
The perfect swarm of busily engaged persons moving about noiselessly; the multitude of guests, — who were, however, even less numerous than the servants who waited on them, — the myriad of exquisitely prepared dishes, of gold and silver vases; the floods of dazzling light, the masses of unknown flowers of which the hot-houses had been despoiled, redundant with luxuriance of unequaled scent and beauty; the perfect harmony of the surroundings, which, indeed, was no more than the prelude of the promised fete , charmed all who were there; and they testified their admiration over and over again, not by voice or gesture, but by deep silence and rapt attention, those two languages of the courtier which acknowledge the hand of no master powerful enough to restrain them.
Mr Partridge acted for some time on the defensive only; indeed he attempted only to guard his face with his hands; but as he found that his antagonist abated nothing of her rage, he thought he might, at least, endeavour to disarm her, or rather to confine her arms; in doing which her cap fell off in the struggle, and her hair being too short to reach her shoulders, erected itself on her head; her stays likewise, which were laced through one single hole at the bottom, burst open; and her breasts, which were much more redundant than her hair, hung down below her middle; her face was likewise marked with the blood of her husband: her teeth gnashed with rage; and fire, such as sparkles from a smith’s forge, darted from her eyes.
He was a small, short, youngish man, sprinkled all over his face with freckles, and wearing redundant yellow hair.
Unless you adopted the opinion of certain observers of the human heart, and thought that the chevalier had the voice of his nose, his organ of speech would have amazed you by its full and redundant sound.
Nothing told me then that she, a few years hence, would be the wife of one entirely unknown to me as yet, but destined hereafter to become a closer friend than even herself, more intimate than that unmannerly lad of seventeen, by whom I was collared in the passage, on coming down, and well-nigh jerked off my equilibrium, and who, in correction for his impudence, received a resounding whack over the sconce, which, however, sustained no serious injury from the infliction; as, besides being more than commonly thick, it was protected by a redundant shock of short, reddish curls, that my mother called auburn.
And by hideous con- trast, a redundant orator was making a speech to another gathering not thirty steps away, in fulsome laudation of «our glorious British liberties!»
Was it Hafiz or Firdousi that said of his Persian Lilla, She was an elemental force, and astonished me by her amount of life, when I saw her day after day radiating, every instant, redundant joy and grace on all around her.
So spake the Enemie of Mankind, enclos’d In Serpent, Inmate bad, and toward EVE Address’d his way, not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as since, but on his reare, Circular base of rising foulds, that tour’d Fould above fould a surging Maze, his Head Crested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erect Amidst his circling Spires, that on the grass Floted redundant: pleasing was his shape, And lovely, never since of Serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in ILLYRIA chang’d HERMIONE and CADMUS, or the God In EPIDAURUS; nor to which transformd AMMONIAN JOVE, or CAPITOLINE was seen, Hee with OLYMPIAS, this with her who bore SCIPIO the highth of ROME.
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This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
[ ri-duhn-duhnt ]
/ rɪˈdʌn dənt /
This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
adjective
characterized by verbosity or unnecessary repetition in expressing ideas; prolix: a redundant style.
being in excess; exceeding what is usual or natural: a redundant part.
having some unusual or extra part or feature.
characterized by superabundance or superfluity: lush, redundant vegetation.
Engineering.
- (of a structural member) not necessary for resisting statically determined stresses.
- (of a structure) having members designed to resist other than statically determined stresses; hyperstatic.
- noting a complete truss having additional members for resisting eccentric loads.Compare complete (def. 8), incomplete (def. 3).
- (of a device, circuit, computer system, etc.) having excess or duplicate parts that can continue to perform in the event of malfunction of some of the parts.
Linguistics. characterized by redundancy; predictable.
Computers. containing more bits or characters than are required, as a parity bit inserted for checking purposes.
Chiefly British. removed or laid off from a job.
QUIZ
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Origin of redundant
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin redundant- (stem of redundāns ), present participle of redundāre “to flow back, overflow, be excessive.” See redound, -ant
synonym study for redundant
OTHER WORDS FROM redundant
re·dun·dant·ly, adverb
Words nearby redundant
reductivism, reductor, redundancy, redundancy pay, redundancy payment, redundant, red underwing, redupl., reduplicate, reduplication, reduplicative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to redundant
superfluous, unnecessary, bombastic, de trop, diffuse, extra, extravagant, inessential, inordinate, iterating, long-winded, loquacious, oratorical, padded, palaverous, periphrastic, pleonastic, prolix, reiterating, spare
How to use redundant in a sentence
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This makes the two hemispheres largely redundant — they carry the same information about the lines — so we can forget the southern one.
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It’s all set against the challenge of the search for a business model, people being asked to do more work, others being made redundant.
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Some models are multi-cookers, which will allow them to replace otherwise redundant devices in your cabinet and on your countertop, thereby saving space just by being there.
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It is healthy to maintain redundant databases, collected by active communities, so that data can be challenged in order to keep the civic space open and global.
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The resulting surface is a highly redundant representation of the dodecahedron, with 10 copies of each pentagon.
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On some issues, Puck was so mired in its own times that the commentary is redundant.
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The sheer amount of redundant bureaucracy needs to be eliminated.
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Overall, The Judge wants to be insightful and funny and sad, but it instead ends up being clichéd and redundant.
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It almost seems that an “official” investigation will be redundant.
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The waitress recommends that we get our pannukakku with nisu toast, which seems redundant—toast with pancakes?
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Within were the park and the deer, and the mansion rearing its brilliant columns amidst the redundant groves of a Spanish autumn.
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On p. 21 The redundant double quotation mark after «grandure» has been deleted.
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For a time there was enthusiastic cutting of septal spurs and burning of redundant mucosa and cauterizing of sensitive areas.
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The phrase seems redundant, but ‘trivial’ may here be used in the strict sense of common or well-known.
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He stood six feet six inches high in his stockings, and straight as an arrow, without any redundant flesh.
British Dictionary definitions for redundant
adjective
surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous
verbose or tautological
deprived of one’s job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operationhe has been made redundant
(of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
Derived forms of redundant
redundantly, adverb
Word Origin for redundant
C17: from Latin redundans overflowing, from redundāre to run back, stream over; see redound
Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
I had a shower thought of my own this morning, in the shower. Like a gentleman. Redundancy, as we understand it in this industry, isn’t.
All the online dictionary I’ve read equates redundancy with being superfluous, unnecessary, or surplus to requirements. Collins takes it a step further by also claiming it can mean:
duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
This is what I understand redundancy to mean. I want offsite backups, multiple copies of data in a RAID or OpenZFS pool, and read replicas of my live databases. These are all forms of redundancy, because they can improve performace by spreading load, continue to operate in a degraded state and, most critically, recover from loss.
If we consider redundancy to be an essential requirement of a system then, is the existence of said redundant data not redundant? Anyone who claims backups are redundant in the traditional English use of the term isn’t qualified to design or operate computer systems!
Much as my old boss said that anything that isn’t documented doesn’t exist, I’d argue any data without redundancy is ephemeral. If your system can’t tolerate that, redundancy is therefore a requirement.
Each industry has its own vocabulary and nomenclature that may conflict with definitions in other spheres. It’s why nerds get up in arms about the word hacker, despite violent and negative connotations predating our use (Jack the Ripper wasn’t hacking people up to fix them in an innovative way). I wonder what other terms don’t just have different meanings, but are polar opposites?
I always thought OSPF sounded like a laundry detergent.
It’s an adjective I think. As in «The genetic code can be said to be (blank) because multiple codons can code for the same amino acid» or «My database is (blank) because it keeps multiple copies of critical files in case one is corrupted»
Hint: «backup» isn’t the word I’m looking for.
Thanks folks.
Ben
2,1433 gold badges17 silver badges30 bronze badges
asked Oct 17, 2015 at 3:26
4
As posted in the comments by @deadrat;
Redundant
Points 4 or 5 below
redundant (rɪˈdʌndənt) adj
- surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous
- verbose or tautological
- (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) deprived of one’s job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operation: he has been made
redundant.- (General Engineering) (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
- (Electronics) (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
For you specific examples:
The genetic code can be said to be redundant because multiple codons can code for the same amino acid
My database is redundant [has redundancy] because it keeps multiple copies of critical files in case one is corrupted
NB: I’ll delete this answer if @deadrat posts the same!
answered Oct 17, 2015 at 10:59
RemarkLimaRemarkLima
1,9041 gold badge13 silver badges17 bronze badges
adjective
- characterized by verbosity or unnecessary repetition in expressing ideas; prolix: a redundant style.
- being in excess; exceeding what is usual or natural: a redundant part.
- having some unusual or extra part or feature.
- characterized by superabundance or superfluity: lush, redundant vegetation.
- Engineering.
- (of a structural member) not necessary for resisting statically determined stresses.
- (of a structure) having members designed to resist other than statically determined stresses; hyperstatic.
- noting a complete truss having additional members for resisting eccentric loads.Compare complete(def
, incomplete(def 3).
- (of a device, circuit, computer system, etc.) having excess or duplicate parts that can continue to perform in the event of malfunction of some of the parts.
- Linguistics. characterized by redundancy; predictable.
- Computers. containing more bits or characters than are required, as a parity bit inserted for checking purposes.
- Chiefly British. removed or laid off from a job.
adjective
- surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous
- verbose or tautological
- deprived of one’s job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operationhe has been made redundant
- (of components, information, etc) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc
1590s, from Latin redundantem (nominative redundans), present participle of redundare, literally “overflow, pour over; be over-full;” figuratively “be in excess,” from re- “again” (see re-) + undare “rise in waves,” from unda “a wave” (see water (n.1)). Of persons, in employment situations, from 1928, chiefly British. Related: Redundantly.
adj
1 surplus to requirements; unnecessary or superfluous
2 verbose or tautological
3 deprived of one’s job because it is no longer necessary for efficient operation
he has been made redundant
4 (of components, information, etc.) duplicated or added as a precaution against failure, error, etc.
(C17: from Latin redundans overflowing, from redundare to run back, stream over; see redound)
♦
redundantly adv
English Collins Dictionary — English Definition & Thesaurus
redundant
1 de trop, excessive, extra, inessential, inordinate, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus, unnecessary, unwanted
2 diffuse, iterative, padded, periphrastic, pleonastic, prolix, repetitious, tautological, verbose, wordy
Antonyms
1 essential, necessary, needed, vital
English Collins Dictionary — English synonyms & Thesaurus
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