Pleonastic vs Superfluous - What's the difference?
pleonastic | superfluous | Synonyms |
Of, or relating to pleonasm.
*
Using an excessive number of words; especially using different words having the same meaning.
In excess of what is required or sufficient.
Superfluous is a synonym of pleonastic.
As adjectives the difference between pleonastic and superfluous
is that pleonastic is of, or relating to pleonasm while superfluous is in excess of what is required or sufficient.pleonastic
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- A second class of Subject Expressions'' in English are so-called ''pleonastic pronouns'' such as ''it'' and ''there'' in sentences like:
(104) (a) ''It'' is raining/''It'' is a long way to Dallas/''It?s'' time to leave/''It'' is obvious that you?re right
(104) (b) ''There'' must have been some mistake/''There'' walked into the room the most beautiful woman I had ever encountered
These Pronouns are called ‘pleonastic? (which means ‘redundant?) in traditional grammar because (in their ‘pleonastic? use, but not in other uses) they are felt to be (in some vague intuitive sense) ‘semantically empty?, and thus cannot have their reference questioned (cf. ?''What is raining?'' ?''Where must have been some mistake? ).
Synonyms
* redundant * See alsoAnagrams
*superfluous
English
Adjective
(-)- With a full rain suit, carrying an umbrella may be superfluous .
