duplicitous
Americanadjective
Usage
What does duplicitous mean? Duplicitous is used to describe someone who intentionally misleads people, especially by saying different things to different people or acting in different ways at different times.The word can also describe the actions of such a person. A close synonym is deceitful. A more informal synonym is double-dealing (which can also be used as a noun).To be duplicitous is to engage in duplicity, which refers to the practice of misleading someone in this way, to the quality of a person who does this, or to an instance of such deception.People who are liars are duplicitous. The word is based on the idea of presenting two or more different versions of oneself or of a situation. Fittingly, duplicitous people are often accused of being two-faced or of “speaking out of both sides of their mouth.” This typically means that they say different things to different people (in other words, they lie) in order to serve their agenda.Less commonly, duplicitous can describe something that has two elements or parts. This sense of duplicitous does not have the same negative implication as the primary sense of the word.Example: I’ve never met someone more duplicitous—he says one thing and then turns around and says the complete opposite, barely trying to conceal the lie.
Other Word Forms
- duplicitously adverb
Etymology
Origin of duplicitous
First recorded in 1955–60; duplicit(y) + -ous
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.
A spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance said a recent independent review of the policing of hunting "revealed exactly how dishonest and duplicitous anti-hunting activists are".
From BBC
But the most villainous entity they encounter is a duplicitous schemer played with oleaginous insincerity by Hugh Grant.
From Seattle Times
“The CCP is still a threat, still duplicitous, still power hungry, still bloodthirsty.”
From Seattle Times
Most recently, he played a duplicitous expat in Season 4 of “You,” and cameoed as himself in the series finale of the “Gossip Girl” reboot.
From New York Times
There are people who are, politicians are, almost all of them I feel on either side of the aisle are duplicitous and they have to be by nature.
From Salon
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.
