redundancy
n. C / Un. a situation where you lose your job because your employer no longer needs you or the position. It also means having extra parts or information that are not strictly necessary but provide a backup.
n. the state of being no longer needed or useful; specifically, the termination of employment due to the elimination of a job role. In technical contexts, refers to the inclusion of extra components to ensure system reliability in case of failure.
The factory closure led to hundreds of redundancies.
After the merger, the new management identified several roles that were no longer necessary, leading to a round of voluntary redundancy.
Engineers built multiple layers of redundancy into the spacecraft's life-support systems to ensure that a single mechanical failure would not result in a catastrophic loss of pressure.
From redundant + -cy.
Countable when referring to specific instances of job losses; uncountable when referring to the general state of being unnecessary.
he was made a redundancyhe was made redundantLearners often use the noun 'redundancy' where the adjective 'redundant' is required in the common British idiom 'to be made redundant'.