double entendre
noun
a double meaning.
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double entendre
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double-entendre
double-entendreA word or expression that has two different meanings (in French, double-entendre means “double meaning”), one of which is often bawdy or indelicate. A double-entendre is found in this sentence: “A nudist camp is simply a place where men and women meet to air their differences.”
double entendre
American
[duhb-uhl ahn-tahn-druh, -tahnd, doo-blahn -tahn-dr uh]
/ ˈdʌb əl ɑnˈtɑn drə, -ˈtɑnd, du blɑ̃ˈtɑ̃ drə /
noun
double entendres
plural
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a double meaning.
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a word or expression used in a given context so that it can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué.
double entendre
British
/ dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃drə, ˈdʌbəl ɑːnˈtɑːndrə, -ˈtɑːnd /
noun
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a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate
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the type of humour that depends upon such ambiguity
double-entendre
Cultural
Usage
What else does double entendre mean? A double entendre is a word or expression that can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué. If you've ever cracked a that's what she said joke, you've created a double entendre.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of double entendre
From obsolete French, dating back to 1665–75; see origin at double, intend
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.
See Examples For:
“I mean, it has to fit with secular society. It’s got to have some double entendre about the Gospel.”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
“We thought it was a double entendre that would work,” said June Millington, 74.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2022
For all the obvious reasons — the alliteration, the inflection towards "Breaking Bad," the double entendre of breaking bread with people.
From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2022
As in “Godot,” there is hardly any plot in “Pass Over”; the title itself is a biblical double entendre.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2021
Afterward, they regroup in the living room for board games and goofy improvisation contests, all free of profanity and even double entendre.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
The title of the new series is a double-entendre: The retreat takes place in Iceland, which some would consider the end of the world; and the climate crisis — the looming end of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
The double-entendre headline, for Pete and Chasten Buttigieg, is "First Family."
From Fox News ● May 3, 2019
Early protesters appeared, symbolically, on the Tehran thoroughfare renamed for the country’s revolution, in 1979, adding a subtle double-entendre to the new women’s crusade.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 14, 2018
A mock-up package provided by Battaglia boasts it contains four “puros rollos” — a double-entendre that literally means “pure rolls” but can also be understood as “pure nonsense.”
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2017
They quite justify a double-entendre of Daniel Webster's, which we heard him utter many years ago in court.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 31, May, 1860 by Various
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.
