In this season of elections and so many basketball games, I have been hearing things like, “He won a hard-fought victory in Michigan today,” and “The victory was a grueling win over their long-time opponents.”

Using “win” and “victory” in the same sentence is overdoing it.  They mean the same thing, don’t they?

It’s pretty clear (I hope) that almost no one would say, “He won a victory in Michigan today.”  Why then does simply inserting an adjective (like “hard-fought”) make it OK?  What the heck is wrong with “He won the hard-fought Michigan primary today”?  Or, “They won a close game today”?

There are so many non-pleonastic options.

“The Michigan returns revealed a close win for (the candidate).”  (Not, “The win was a close victory. . . .”

Or:

“The pitcher’s performance led to a decisive victory.”  (Not, “They won a close victory because Smith pitched so well.”)  Or, “The team got a tough win today,” or “they earned a tough victory.”