duplex

American  

[doo-pleks, dyoo-] / ˈdu plɛks, ˈdju- /

noun

duplexes plural

1. duplex apartment.

2. duplex house.

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

4. Printing.

   1. a method of reproducing an illustration using two halftone plates, one black and the other in a color.

   2. a printing press equipped to print both sides of a sheet in one pass.

5. Genetics. a double-stranded region of DNA.

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adjective

1. having two parts; double; twofold.

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

3. 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)

1. to make duplex; make or change into a duplex.

   Many owners are duplexing their old houses for extra income.

duplex British  

/ ˈdjuːplɛks /

noun

1. a duplex apartment or house

2. a double-stranded region in a nucleic acid molecule

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adjective

1. having two parts

2. machinery having pairs of components of independent but identical function

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• duplexity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• duplexes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of duplex

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

Explanation

A two-family house can be called a duplex. Living in a duplex is great — unless the people with whom you share a wall like to have all-night yodeling parties. In the U.K. a duplex is an apartment with an upstairs and a downstairs, but in North America a duplex is a building divided into two separate living spaces. Most duplexes are built with the two homes side by side, although you can also live in a duplex with apartments on two floors. The Latin duplex means "twofold," from duo, "two," and -plex, "to intertwine." The word was coined in the U.S. around 1922.

Example Sentences

Google said it's constantly improving its assistant as well and that its Duplex technology can phone restaurants to book tables and verify hours.

From Reuters • Jul. 17, 2023

Google has shared how it’s using artificial intelligence, including its restaurant-calling Duplex tech, to try and keep business hours up to date on Google Maps.

From The Verge • Apr. 7, 2022

Luckily, the upstairs cabaret at the Duplex, a few doors down from the Stonewall Inn, was available.

From New York Times • Nov. 27, 2021

The hottest Airbnb in town just might be the Doublemint Duplex, a home whose extensive renovation was very publicly chronicled by Young House Love bloggers John and Sherry Petersik.

From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2019

Duplex is used as an adjective, duplum as a substantive.

From Döderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes by Döderlein, Ludwig