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duality

[doo-al-i-tee, dyoo-]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR duality ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a dual state or quality.

Mathematics. a symmetry within a mathematical system such that a theorem remains valid if certain objects, relations, or operations are interchanged, as the interchange of points and lines in a plane in projective geometry.

Origin of duality

1350–1400; Middle English dualitie < Late Latin duālitās. See dual, -ity

Related formsnon·du·al·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for duality

combination, duo, couple, two, team, match, pair, double, falsehood, chicanery, hypocrisy, artifice, deceit, dishonesty, twosome, span, combine, yoke, brace, twins

Examples from the Web for duality

Contemporary Examples of duality

Buried halfway underground, the work has a duality of life and death—is it growing or is it a tomb?
Art’s Bad Boy Dan Colen Is All Grown Up
Justin Jones
May 12, 2014
“We liked the duality of these low-plunging costumes because Amy could slip from being confident to vulnerable,” says Wilkinson.
Creating American Hustle’s Sexy, Oscar-Nominated Look: From Pasties to The Plaza
Marlow Stern
February 23, 2014
Much like the duality of his shop, Simon is half goateed-rocker, half cicerone sage.
Look Out! There’s a Craft-Beer Revolution Taking Over France
Jeff Campagna
December 2, 2013
That duality is represented by Tom Ford more than any other designer.
The Jenna Divorce Obsession
Robin Givhan
October 29, 2011
As a ballerina, to embody the duality of the Swan Queen and the black swan can be a fiendishly difficult task.
The Ballerina's Curse
Wendy Whelan
December 4, 2010

Historical Examples of duality

The weakness of the play, as I have said, lies in its duality of action.
John Lyly
John Dover Wilson
Duality is the root, out of which alone, for mortals, happiness can spring.
The Substance of a Dream
F. W. Bain
This then is the duality of my day and my night being: a duality so bitter to an adolescent.
Fantasia of the Unconscious
D. H. Lawrence
In her, the duality of her being had created two distinct lives.
Casa Braccio, Volumes 1 and 2 (of 2)
F. Marion Crawford
In a way, every one must have a sort of duality—a good and evil principle.
Casa Braccio, Volumes 1 and 2 (of 2)
F. Marion Crawford

British Dictionary definitions for duality

duality

noun plural -ties

the state or quality of being two or in two parts; dichotomy

physics the principle that a wave-particle duality exists in microphysics in which wave theory and corpuscular theory are complementary. The propagation of electromagnetic radiation is analysed using wave theory but its interaction with matter is described in terms of photons. The condition of particles such as electrons, neutrons, and atoms is described in terms of de Broglie waves

geometry the interchangeability of the roles of the point and the plane in statements and theorems in projective geometry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for duality

n.

late 14c., from Old French dualité (14c.), from Late Latin dualitas, from Latin dualis (see dual).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper