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redundancy

rih-DUN-duhn-see /rɪˈdʌndənsi/

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The state of being no longer needed or useful; superabundance; duplicate components built into a system as a backup against failure.

In British business, redundancy refers to corporate lay-offs. In engineering and management, it can mean either wasteful overlap or intentional safety backup.

The story behind the word. Derived from Latin 'redundare' (to overflow like a wave), the word originally depicted rivers rising over their banks. In the 20th century, information theorists and management consultants adopted the term to describe duplicate data streams, overlapping corporate duties, and backup mechanical equipment.

Word relationships

duplication: 'Duplication' simply means making a second copy, whereas 'redundancy' implies either wasteful excess or intentional safety backup.
superfluity: 'Superfluity' emphasizes useless excess, whereas 'redundancy' can have a positive technical role as a safety feature.

scarcity: 'Scarcity' is an acute shortage of necessary resources.
essentiality: 'Essentiality' is the state of being indispensable and non-duplicable.

Commonly confused with

resiliency: 'Resiliency' is the ability to recover from hardship; 'redundancy' is having duplicate systems or capacity.

Word family

redundant (adjective): Exceeding what is necessary or normal; superfluous.
redundantly (adverb): In a manner that involves unnecessary duplication.

Collocations

built-in redundancy
eliminate redundancy
structural redundancy
job redundancy

Idioms & expressions

belt and suspenders
gilding the lily

Example sentences

"The merger created administrative redundancy, resulting in two finance departments performing the exact same payroll tasks." Corporate efficiency auditing
"Aerospace engineers build electrical redundancy into aircraft so that secondary flight controls engage instantly if the primary system fails." Engineering safety systems

Memory hook

Redundancy overflows like REDUNDANT waves washing over the shore. Superfluous overlap or emergency backup.

When not to use

Do not use redundancy to describe an essential, unique component that has no duplicate or alternative.

Fun facts

In information theory, human languages are roughly 50% redundant—meaning half the letters or words in a sentence can be omitted or corrupted before a listener loses comprehension.

Explore more words

redundant, Tautology, ancillary, rely, supplementary, contingency