Take the 2-minute tour ×  The context: a warning to a user of a
website that tells the user that patterns in an image should be
avoided.  One of the key characteristics of a pattern is that it
is repetitive. There is no such thing as a “non-repetitive
pattern”. This makes it a pleonasm. Am I right about this?  At
the same time, I feel “repetitive pattern” sends a clearer
message to the user than just “pattern”, because it is a
pleonasm. I was taught that I should avoid pleonasms. Is this a
justified case to use a pleonasm?  share|improve this question
2 Answers 2  up vote 2 down vote accepted  It's a pleonasm, but
pleonasms aren't all bad. They range from the irritatingly
redundant (though different people will disagree on what is and
isn't irritating) through to some that are useful in giving
information to some readers/listeners who don't understand the
precise meaning of the noun, and there is much room in between.
While all patterns are repetitive, some are more gratingly
repetitive than others, so it m