[f. as prec. + -AL: see -ICAL.]
1. Pertaining to characterized by, involving, or using tautology; repeating the same word, or the same notion in different words.
1620. T. Granger, Div. Logike, 387. Lest thy discourse be tedious, Tautologicall, erroneous.
1670. Blount, Law Dict., s.v. Alnager, Measurer, and Alneger, which last, though it be a Tautological expression (Aulnage and Measure, being the same thing denoted in two Languages) yet long usage and custom have brought them to distinct Offices.
1789. R. Broome, Lett. of Simpkin, 126.
| ’Tis observable, this tautological Speaker | |
| Is louder as much as his argument’s weaker. |
1800. in Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880), 355. Now and then, in the career of declamation, he becomes tautological and ineffective.
1869. Ingleby, Introd. Metaph., II. ii. 176. One writer … desperately declares that the Laws of Motion are mere truisms, or tautological judgments.
2. Of an echo: Repeating the same sound several times. ? Obs.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 7. These return syllables and words, the same oftentimes repeated, and may therefore be stiled Tautological Echo’s.
1807. Joyce, Sci. Dial., xiii. (1846), 232. Called tautological or babbling echoes.
† 3. loosely. Of the nature of a repetition, identical (with). Obs. rare–1.
1689. G. Harvey, Curing Dis. by Expect., xvi. 125. Compound Waters … tautological the one with the other.
