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
"I really did feel a tremendous loyalty to MI6," the Soviet double agent said, but his over-ruling fealty was to "the other side".
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
Oleg Gordievsky's career as a double agent had landed him right in the middle of one of the most dangerous standoffs of the Cold War—and into scalding-hot water with the KGB.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
