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The Double Nature of Duplicity and Duplicitous
The idea of doubleness is at the core of duplicity and duplicitous. Duplicity is the older of the pair; it comes from a Latin word meaning "double" or "twofold," and its original meaning in English has to do with a kind of deception in which you intentionally hide your true feelings or intentions behind false words or actions. If you are being duplicitous there are two yous: the one you're showing and the one you're hiding. And—key to the idea of duplicity—you're hiding the hidden you in order to make people believe something that's not true.
The word is found in many works of literature, including the Bible:
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
— Proverbs 11:3 (New International Version)Even when he sat opposite me in the kitchen, talking, he would turn his head a little toward the clock or the stove and look at me from the side, but with frankness and good nature. This trick did not suggest duplicity or secretiveness ...
— Willa Cather, My Antonia, 1918Arch read it at breakfast the day it came out and again that night. He admired its art but was most affected, and in fact discomfited, by its unblinking inventory of self-seeking and duplicity.
— Tobias Wolff, Old School, 2003
Synonyms
Examples of duplicitous in a Sentence
Mike Wilson, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
At the same time, the LIA was conducting a duplicitous public-relations campaign that sought to sow doubt about the dangers posed by lead.
—Stephen Mihm, The Mercury News, 2 Jan. 2025
That's refreshing in a world beset by duplicitous backstabbers who switch allegiances on the fly.
—Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025
After that point, Bring Them Down is off to the races, revealing itself as a gripping, bloody turf war-slash-Western, played out between Abbott’s shepherd and his duplicitous young neighbor.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 31 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for duplicitous 
Dictionary Entries Near duplicitous
Cite this Entry
“Duplicitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duplicitous. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
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duplicitous
adjective
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