duplex

[ doo-pleks, dyoo- ]

/ ˈdu plɛks, ˈdyu- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR duplex ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

duplex apartment.

duplex house.

paper or cardboard having different colors, finishes, or stocks on opposite sides.

Printing.

a method of reproducing an illustration using two halftone plates, one black and the other in a color.
a printing press equipped to print both sides of a sheet in one pass.

Genetics. a double-stranded region of DNA.

adjective

having two parts; double; twofold.

(of a machine) having two identical working units, operating together or independently, in a single framework or assembly.

pertaining to or noting a telecommunications system, as most telephone systems, permitting the simultaneous transmission of two messages in opposite directions over one channel.

verb (used with object)

to make duplex; make or change into a duplex: Many owners are duplexing their old houses for extra income.

RELATED WORDS

double, twin

Nearby words

Origin of duplex

1810–20; < Latin: twofold, double, equivalent to du(o) two + -plex -plex

Related formsdu·plex·i·ty, noun

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

Examples from the Web for duplex

The Duplex Drive (called DD) was one: an amphibious conversion which could be fitted to a normal Sherman tank.
Blood in the Sand: When James Jones Wrote a Grunt’s View of D-Day|James Jones|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
(Although Roberts also owns a duplex in Dodge City, he rents that out and does not live there).
There's No Place Like Home For Kansas Senator Pat Roberts|Ben Jacobs|May 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Now it is still warm, close to eighty degrees, as Oswald walks quickly away from the duplex.
The Man Oswald First Tried to Kill Before JFK|Bill Minutaglio, Steven L. Davis|October 3, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Convince your mistress living in the duplex on South Beach to leave the shades pulled—and to limit the bling.
Africa's WikiLeaks|Philip Shenon|August 12, 2010|DAILY BEAST

There are only 12 guest rooms and five duplex suites, so book early.
Gal With a Suitcase|Jolie Hunt|November 21, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The duplex for aeronautical motors is made of cast aluminum alloy.
Aviation Engines|Victor Wilfred Pag
Duplex est humilitas: una lucida solum et non fervida: qu ex ratione potius quam ex charitate exercetur.
A Christian Directory (Volume 1 of 4)|Richard Baxter
Early Christian rings of silver are unusual; that now represented is of duplex form.
Finger-Ring Lore|William Jones
The next step in advance was the "dead-beat escapement," which included the cylinder and duplex.
Watch and Clock Escapements|Anonymous
Social progress is for the most part typified by this duplex or polar action.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2|John Tyndall

British Dictionary definitions for duplex

duplex

/ (ˈdjuːplɛks) /

noun

US and Canadian a duplex apartment or house

a double-stranded region in a nucleic acid molecule

adjective

having two parts

machinery having pairs of components of independent but identical function

permitting the transmission of simultaneous signals in both directions in a radio, telecommunications, or computer channel

Derived Formsduplexity, noun

Word Origin for duplex

C19: from Latin: twofold, from duo two + -plex -fold

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 duplex

duplex

adj.

1817, "composed of two parts," from Latin duplex, from duo "two" (see two) + -plex, from Greek plax (genitive plakos) "flat surface." The noun sense of "house for two families; two-story apartment" is American English, 1922.