redundancy

Universal Words noun (plural redundancies) 1 [U,C,usually pl.] (BrE) the situation when sb has to leave their job because there is no more work available for them: Thousands of factory workers are facing redundancy in the New Year. * to accept / take voluntary redundancy (= to offer to leave your job) * the threat of compulsory redundancies * redundancy payments * 200 workers have been issued with redundancy notices. seealsoLAY-OFF 2 [U] (formal or technical) the state of not being necessary or useful: Natural language is characterized by redundancy (= words are used that are not really necessary for sb to understand the meaning).