duplicitous

English

WOTD – 7 July 2007

Etymology

Etymology tree

English duplicity

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-der.

Latin -ōsus

Old French -usbor.

Middle English -ous

English -ous

English duplicitous

From duplicity + -ous.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /djʊˈplɪsɪtəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /duːˈplɪsətəs/, /djuːˈplɪsətəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

duplicitous (comparative more duplicitous, superlative most duplicitous)

1. Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.
   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     It reunites the horribly duplicitous skag-addicted non-heroes of the first movie about twentysomethings trying to get off heroin in Edinburgh, and finding that they have nothing very much to put in its place.

   • 2023 February 19, Patrick Wintour, “Ukraine war ‘over’ unless EU boosts military support, says top diplomat”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Russia played on those feelings by attacking the French president, Emmanuel Macron […] , saying Moscow still remembered the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte and accusing the French president of duplicitous diplomacy with the Kremlin.

   • 2023 October 12, Edgar Momplaisir, “A Few Badgeys More” (14:06 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks‎^[3], season 4, episode 7, spoken by AGIMUS (Jeffrey Combs):

     “(chuckles) That duplicitous genius. She's betraying me! She's probably already on Plymeria, subjugating its feeble populace. -Quick, to the shuttle.”

Synonyms

• deceitful
• double-dealing
• two-faced

Derived terms

• unduplicitous

Related terms

• duplicate
• duplicitously
• duplicitousness
• duplicity

Translations

given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech

• Bulgarian: двуличен (bg) (dvuličen)
• Catalan: enganyós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 表裏不一嘅 / 表里不一嘅 (biu² leoi³ bat¹ jat¹ ge³)

• Danish: hyklerisk
• Dutch: huichelachtig (nl), dubbelhartig (nl)
• Finnish: kaksinaamainen (fi)
• French: fourbe (fr)
• Galician: enganoso, traizoeiro, delusorio, traidor
• German: heuchlerisch (de)
• Greek: δολερός (el) (dolerós)
• Italian: disonesto (it)
• Japanese: 偽装の (gisouno), 二枚舌を使うような (nimaijitawotsukauyouna)
• Latin: decipiens
• Māori: tītipa, raureka, tuapeka, whakatuapeka, nanakia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tvetydig (no), ekvivokk; falsk (no), hyklerisk

• Polish: dwulicowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: fraudulento (pt)
• Russian: двули́чный (ru) (dvulíčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: dvoličan (sh), pr(ij)etvoran
• Spanish: engañoso (es), dúplice
• Swedish: hycklande (sv)

Further reading

• “duplicitous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.