Learn English – Is “very crucial” redundant

adjectivesgradabilitygrammarredundancy

This came up as a multiple-choice question in an exam. Is using "very crucial" redundant?. . . or tautology?

Best Answer

Tautology is the inclusion of words that have the same meaning as other words already used. So, and vital make the following sentence tautologous:

  • Your contribution is crucial and vital

since crucial and vital are synonymous.

Redundancy occurs when a word is used that adds no extra information to the words already used. So the very in very crucial is redundant because crucial already means very important.