Isn't ほころぶように笑う redundant?


> 彼は **ほころぶように笑った** 。

Isn't ほころぶように笑う redundant? Is 彼はほころんだ not enough?




I don't think so because ほころぶ and 笑う can not be synonymous.

I think the expression hints at either of the two below.

  * 口元がほころぶ is a set phrase to describe a certain kind of spontaneous smile.
  * 蕾がほころぶ is about flower buds blooming.

It's a change of facial expression, but a not too sudden one, and the observer
probably expected it (thus the hint of "buds"). If I were to translate it, it
would be something like "his face gradually opened up into a smile".

Note also that 笑う by itself can mean a wide range of smiles and laughs, facial
expressions and sounds, without an adverb like this.

ほころぶ has different senses depending on what you have as the subject. The first
thing people would think about when hearing ほころぶ would be fraying of fabric,
as in 袖口が綻んだ. But that doesn't make sense in this context, so I excluded it in
the list above. If Xがほころぶ means "X smiles" by itself (I doubt it but I might
just not know some archaic usage), I'm pretty sure the usage is way less
common. Xの表情がほころぶ is different from Xがほころぶ.




Not really. ほころぶように is a metaphor for the change of the face, as such, ほころぶ
requires more specific subjects like the following sample (from
[here](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/en/%E7%B6%BB%E3%81%B3%E3%82%8B/#je-70200)):

> 孫のかわいいしぐさに彼の顔は思わずほころんだ  
>  He could not 「help smiling [repress a smile] at the innocent behavior of
> his grandchild.

Other possibilities would be "彼の表情", "彼の頬" etc.

