duplicity

[ doo-plis-i-tee, dyoo- ]

noun

, plural du·plic·i·ties

1. deceitfulness in speech or conduct, as by speaking or acting in two different ways to different people concerning the same matter; double-dealing.

   Synonyms: trickery, hypocrisy, guile, fraud, dissimulation, deception, deceit

   Antonyms: straightforwardness, directness, candidness, honesty

2. an act or instance of such deceitfulness.
3. Law. the act or fact of including two or more offenses in one count, or charge, as part of an indictment, thus violating the requirement that each count contain only a single offense.
4. the state or quality of having two elements or parts; being twofold or double.

duplicity

/ djuːˈplɪsɪtɪ /

noun

1. deception; double-dealing

Derived Forms

• duˈplicitous, adjective

Other Words From

• non·du·plic·i·ty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of duplicity¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English duplicite, from Middle French duplicitė́, from Late Latin duplicitāt-, stem of duplicitās “doubleness”; duplex, -ity

Word History and Origins

Origin of duplicity¹

C15: from Old French duplicite, from Late Latin duplicitās a being double, from Latin duplex

Synonym Study

Duplicity, deceit, guile, hypocrisy, fraud, trickery refer either to practices designed to mislead or to the qualities that produce those practices. Duplicity is the form of deceitfulness that leads one to give two impressions, either or both of which may be false: the duplicity of a spy working for two governments. Deceit is the quality that prompts intentional concealment or perversion of truth for the purpose of misleading: honest and without deceit. The quality of guile leads to craftiness in the use of deceit: using guile and trickery to attain one's ends. Hypocrisy is the pretense of possessing qualities of sincerity, goodness, devotion, etc.: It was sheer hypocrisy for him to go to church. Fraud refers usually to the practice of subtle deceit or duplicity by which one may derive benefit at another's expense: an advertiser convicted of fraud. Trickery is the quality that leads to the use of tricks and habitual deception: notorious for his trickery in business deals.

Related Words

• artifice
• chicanery
• deceit
• dishonesty
• falsehood
• hypocrisy