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• double entendre
  double entendre

  noun

  a double meaning.
• double-entendre
  double-entendre

  A 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

1. a double meaning.

2. a word or expression used in a given context so that it can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risqué.

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double entendre British  

/ ˈdʌbəl ɑːnˈtɑːndrə, dubl ɑ̃tɑ̃drə, -ˈtɑːnd /

noun

1. a word, phrase, etc, that can be interpreted in two ways, esp one having one meaning that is indelicate

2. the type of humour that depends upon such ambiguity

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double-entendre Cultural  

1. A 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.”

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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

• double entendres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of double entendre

From obsolete French, dating back to 1665–75; see origin at double, intend

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

double entendre double-entendre

Hoping to give her blessing and her mother’s wedding ring to her son — “The Family Stone” remains a very clever double entendre — Sybil’s plans are quickly thwarted by this realization.

From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025

“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

The operative literary device is the double entendre.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2023

“I think Suga is a bit more Lennon — more explicit in his antiestablishment sensibilities. ‘Haegeum’ is a double entendre of a traditional Korean string instrument and wordplay on ‘liberation from restrictions.’

From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2023

He had a chip on his shoulder: it was a sort of black joke he shared with himself, a double entendre, made silently.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

The theme is a heist to steal the draft, and the catch phrase, “The house always wins,” is a double-entendre reference to a Las Vegas casino and the Rams House.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2022

The double-entendre headline, for Pete and Chasten Buttigieg, is "First Family."

From Fox News ● May 3, 2019

On the house floor, the debate — and the double-entendre — continued.

From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 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

I have no patience to study out double-entendre, so it never shocks me.

From The Fighting Chance by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

Related Words

• innuendo
• pun