I. rə̇ˈdəndənsē, rēˈ-, -si noun
also re·dun·dance -n(t)s
( plural redundancies also redundances )
Etymology: Latin redundantia, from redundant-, redundans + -ia -y
1. : the quality or state of being redundant : superfluity
dread of economic redundancy that drove terrified mill hands to wreck Arkwright's spinning jenny — Times Literary Supplement
2.
a. : a lavish or excessive supply : profusion , overabundance
a redundancy of jewelry and a scarcity of clothing — Alan Moorehead
a magnificent redundancy of beard — Elinor Wylie
b. : a nonessential appendage
c. : surplusage in a legal pleading
3.
a. : superfluous repetition or verbosity : prolixity , tautology
the … florid redundancy of Italian prose — Havelock Ellis
b. : an act or instance of needless repetition
redundancies result … when the writer fails to perceive the scope of a word — Bruce Westly
4. : the part of a communication that can be eliminated without loss of essential information ; specifically : the number arrived at by subtracting from one the ratio of the actual information content of a communication to the maximum information content and expressed as a percentage
II. noun
chiefly Britain
1. : dismissal from a job especially by layoff
2. : duplication of components (as of a computer system) that allows continued functionality despite the failure of an individual component