DUALITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does duality mean? 

• DUALITY (noun)
  The noun DUALITY has 3 senses:

1. being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses

2. (physics) the property of matter and electromagnetic radiation that is characterized by the fact that some properties can be explained best by wave theory and others by particle theory

3. (geometry) the interchangeability of the roles of points and planes in the theorems of projective geometry

  Familiarity information: DUALITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DUALITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

dichotomy; duality

Context example:

the dichotomy between eastern and western culture

Hypernyms ("duality" is a kind of...):

categorisation; categorization; classification (a group of people or things arranged by class or category)

Derivation:

dual (consisting of or involving two parts or components usually in pairs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(physics) the property of matter and electromagnetic radiation that is characterized by the fact that some properties can be explained best by wave theory and others by particle theory

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

duality; wave-particle duality

Hypernyms ("duality" is a kind of...):

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Derivation:

dual (a grammatical number category referring to two items or units as opposed to one item (singular) or more than two items (plural))

Sense 3

Meaning:

(geometry) the interchangeability of the roles of points and planes in the theorems of projective geometry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("duality" is a kind of...):

exchangeability; fungibility; interchangeability; interchangeableness (the quality of being capable of exchange or interchange)

Domain category:

geometry (the pure mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces)

 Context examples 

It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both; and from an early date, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Nor can I truly say that I wearied of this beneficent and innocent life; I think instead that I daily enjoyed it more completely; but I was still cursed with my duality of purpose; and as the first edge of my penitence wore off, the lower side of me, so long indulged, so recently chained down, began to growl for licence.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)