redundant

[ri-duhn-duhnt]

adjective

1. exceeding what is needed or useful; superfluous.

   You can shorten the article by omitting these redundant paragraphs.

   I decided that a sixth pair of dress shoes was redundant.

   Synonyms: tautological, superfluous, useless, excessive

2. characterized by unnecessary words or repetition; verbose.

   He writes in a redundant style.

   Synonyms: repetitive, verbose

3. serving or added as a backup; extra.

   If the latch fails on this backwards-opening car hood, the wind will blow it down rather than up, so a redundant latch is not needed.

4. having one or more extra or duplicate parts or features.

   The genetic code is redundant, meaning that more than one codon can map to the same amino acid.

5. Chiefly British.,  (of a worker) laid off or unemployed.

   If the mine were to close, the result would be 183 redundant workers.

6. Computers.

   1. (of code, or of a signal communicating a message) including or encoding more than the required information, so as to provide a fallback, a means of validating data, an accommodation for different platforms, etc.

   2. (of network or system components) providing an additional traffic path or storage place for data, so that if one fails, the other can take over or serve as backup.

7. Engineering.

   1. (of a structural member or part) designed to withstand stresses greater than or different from those that can be calculated or predicted.

   2. (of a structure) having members or parts designed to withstand stresses that cannot be calculated or predicted.

   3. (of a complete truss) having additional members enabling it to withstand loads that are not centered.

   4. (of a device, circuit, etc.) having extra or duplicate parts that can serve as a backup in case other parts malfunction.

8. Linguistics.,  including or encoding more information than is necessary for communication: for example, in my three sons, the plural ending "-s" on sons is redundant because three already indicates plurality.

9. extremely lush or abundant.

   The jungle, with its exuberant, redundant vegetation, hides bizarre and exotic creatures.

redundant

/ rɪˈdʌndənt /

adjective

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

Other Word Forms

• redundantly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of redundant¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin redundant-, stem of redundāns “flowing back, being excessive,” present participle of redundāre “to flow back, overflow, be excessive”; redound ( def. ), -ant ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of redundant¹

C17: from Latin redundans overflowing, from redundāre to run back, stream over; see _redound

Synonym Study

See wordy.

Example Sentences

Struggling health and beauty chain Bodycare says it will immediately shut 32 of its stores across the UK and make 450 staff redundant, after going into administration.

From BBC

The banking group is set to tell those it deems are among the weakest performing 5% that they could be made redundant unless their work improves.

From BBC

An MP has said his team will work "full blast" to find every person made redundant by Lotus a new job.

From BBC

A number of senior staff have left the organisation in recent months, and bosses said more people would either be made redundant or not have their contracts renewed as the restructure continues.

From BBC

As well as the store closures and rent reductions, about 110 of roughly 950 roles at River Island's head office will be made redundant, saving an estimated £8.1m.

From BBC

Related Words

• superfluous 
• unnecessary