noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Intentional deceptiveness; double-dealing. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   acting in bad faith; deception by pretending to entertain one set of intentions while acting under the influence of another wordnet
3. 3
   The quality of being double or twofold. countable, uncountable

   "For instance the rod-cone 'duplicity' of retinal function was first enunciated by the German microscopist Max Schultze in 1866 […]"

4. 4
   a fraudulent or duplicitous representation wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

double dealingambidexterityambiguityambivalenceartfulnessartifice

Example

More examples

"Tom is often accused of duplicity."

Etymology

From Latin duplicare (double). Equivalent to duplex + -ity.

Related phrases

double crossdouble dealing

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.