How to Use tautological in a Sentence
tautological
adjective-
That may sound tautological, but a closer look at the data suggests that lower courts are using Heller to judge which claims are strong and which are weak.
—Joseph Blocher and Eric Ruben, Vox, 14 June 2018
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To serve the fans with the insights of critics by way of the corporate stewardship of the very things being criticized feels like a tautological exercise.
—The Editors, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2017
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But his reputation is a tautological loop — and one that has proven difficult to escape.
—Cody Delistraty, The Cut, 5 Sep. 2017
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The formula is plain-spoken but also evasive; its tautological aspect works to push the details of the subject under discussion into the background.
—Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2020
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Since those programs can go bankrupt only if Congress connives for that to happen, this is a curiously tautological mandate.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2022
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To some readers this may sound almost tautological, but as Gray points out, the denial of the existence of a transcendent god is not inherently a denial of religious truth, because not all religions are theistic.
—Christopher Beha, The New York Review of Books, 21 Feb. 2019
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No one bothered to explain whether the campaign was hosting the local grassroots organization, or vice versa, because the question is mostly tautological.
—Alexander Zaitchik, The New Republic, 7 Feb. 2020
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His work is simply there, looming, draining, tautological.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2019
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In obesity research, this tautological logic — saying the same thing in two different ways but offering no explanation for either — was allowed to become the central dogmatic truth.
—Gary Taubes, STAT, 16 Sep. 2021
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There are countless claims like these, almost all of them unsubstantiated, tautological or otherwise self-serving.
—Calvin Baker, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2017
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At the other extreme from Ford’s almost tautological approach is the claim that only proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a President committed criminal offenses can justify an impeachment.
—Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, 19 May 2018
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Begging the question actually means posing or answering a question in a circular or tautological manner; your conclusion is foregone.
—John Horgan, Scientific American, 7 Aug. 2021
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Another of the remarkable aspects of this history is that the fundamentally tautological nature of energy-balance thinking has been so infrequently discussed.
—Gary Taubes, STAT, 16 Sep. 2021
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Limiting social media may seem impossible, or tautological.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2021
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tautological.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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