double agent
Americannoun
-
a person who spies on a country while pretending to spy for it.
-
a spy in the service of two rival countries, companies, etc.
noun
Etymology
Origin of double agent
First recorded in 1930–35
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 2018, the UK said Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in the British cathedral city of Salisbury.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
His KGB contact, who believes him to be a double agent, raises the stakes by asking him for information on Faith—though she has encouraged Gabriel to accept Soviet payments to dupe the Russians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
Framed as a confession by the child of a Frenchman and a Vietnamese woman, the narrator is a double agent with an unforgettable voice recalling Graham Greene and Vladimir Nabokov.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025
At the time of his work as a double agent, his defection was hailed by then Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe as "a very substantial coup for our security forces".
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025
Franklin and Deane sometimes sent Bancroft on missions to London, not knowing that this gave the double agent a chance to report in person to the head of the British Secret Service.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
