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redundant

/rɪˈdʌndənt//rɪˈdʌndənt/·adjective
no longer needed; superfluous; duplicating something already present
Fig. 1 — A signal runs along a chain of six nodes, and one of those nodes has a twin sitting just above it, doing the very same job at the very same instant.
01Definition

Redundant describes what the system would not miss: the phrase that repeats the sentence, the step that duplicates another, the role made unnecessary by a machine. In British English it is the standard word for losing a job — workers are 'made redundant' when the position, not the person, is abolished. Engineering quietly redeems the word: a redundant system is the deliberate backup that saves the aircraft when the primary fails. Whether redundancy is waste or wisdom depends entirely on what is at stake.

02In use
  • iThe editor cut every redundant phrase; what survived was half the length and twice as coherent.
  • iiThe new software made the manual checks redundant and the roles built around them obsolete.
  • iiiFive hundred workers were made redundant when the plant closed.
03Collocations
  • made redundant
  • redundancy payments
  • a redundant system
  • cut redundant wording

Family redundancy (noun) · redundantly (adverb)

04Relations

=superfluous, unnecessary, surplus, expendable, duplicative

≠essential, necessary, indispensable

05Compared
PairThe difference
redundant vs abundantmore than enough, happily plentiful → abundant; surplus to need, unneeded → redundant.
redundant vs obsoletesuperseded by something newer, overtaken by its era → obsolete; not needed because it is spare or duplicated → redundant.
06TOEFL & IELTS

IELTS (British English) tests the employment sense — 'make redundant', 'redundancy payments' — in listening and reading about work. For writing, the concept polishes your own style: examiners penalize redundant wording, so knowing what redundancy is helps you delete it. TOEFL engineering passages use the positive sense: redundant systems as designed-in backup.

07Asked
What does it mean to be made redundant?
In British English, to lose your job because the position itself is being abolished — the standard term for workforce reductions, with legal weight: redundancy pay is a statutory entitlement, calculated from age and years served. The grammar matters: you are made redundant (passive, the employer acts), and it is the role, not the person, that the word declares surplus.
Is being made redundant the same as being fired?
No, and the difference decides references and benefits. Fired means fault: performance or conduct. Redundant means the job disappeared — no blame attaches, which is why the law compensates it. American English says laid off for the same event. The scene above draws the logic: the released twin node did nothing wrong; it was simply doing work that already had an owner.
What does redundant mean in engineering?
Deliberate duplication as insurance — the one register where redundancy is praise. Aircraft carry redundant hydraulic systems; servers have redundant power. Engineers even split it into kinds: active redundancy runs the backup alongside the primary, standby redundancy holds it in reserve. The word's logic is unchanged — not needed now — but 'not needed until the failure' is exactly the point.
What is redundancy in writing?
Saying the same thing twice inside one phrase: past history, close proximity, final outcome, added bonus — in each pair one word already contains the other. Examiners and editors cut redundancies on sight because every one costs concision without adding meaning. The self-test is deletion: if a word can go and the sentence loses nothing, the sentence was carrying a passenger.
What's the difference between redundant and superfluous?
Superfluous is excess — more than the situation needs: superfluous decoration, a superfluous apology. Redundant is duplication — unneeded because something else already does the job. A tenth cushion on the sofa is superfluous; a second doorbell beside the first is redundant. The distinction matters in editing: superfluous words overreach, redundant words repeat.