Pleonasm (, from Greek πλεονασμός
pleonasmos from πλέον
pleon "more, too much") is the use of more
words or
parts of words than is necessary or sufficient for clear expression: examples are
black darkness,
burning fire, or
people's democracy. Such
redundancy is, by traditional
rhetorical criteria, a manifestation of
tautology. That being said, one may employ pleonasm for emphasis, or because the phrase has already become established in a certain form.