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.
The actor could easily put his skills to use playing a duplicitous sociopath in a psychological drama, but as a comedy “Killing” is simply dead.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
In the latest step in their bitter legal battle, lawyers for Baldoni, 40, has claimed Lively and her team made a "duplicitous attempt to destroy" him.
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2025
It’s at these very junctures that the archetypes of the unconscious can do their greatest mischief, shifting what at one moment is experienced as a benevolent parent into a duplicitous one.
From Slate • Sep. 8, 2024
“The law may be on the side of the Defendants and compel a resolution in their favor today, but it does not excuse their culpable and duplicitous conduct,” Moses wrote.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 30, 2023
In order to enjoy ourselves, we learned to be duplicitous.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
