DUPLICITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does duplicity mean? 

• DUPLICITY (noun)
  The noun DUPLICITY has 2 senses:

1. a fraudulent or duplicitous representation

2. acting in bad faith; deception by pretending to entertain one set of intentions while acting under the influence of another

  Familiarity information: DUPLICITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DUPLICITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fraudulent or duplicitous representation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

duplicity; fraudulence

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

deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)

Derivation:

duplicitous (marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Acting in bad faith; deception by pretending to entertain one set of intentions while acting under the influence of another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

double-dealing; duplicity

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

deceit; deception; dissembling; dissimulation (the act of deceiving)

Derivation:

duplicitous (marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another)

 Context examples 

I was a precocious actress in her eyes; she sincerely looked on me as a compound of virulent passions, mean spirit, and dangerous duplicity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If I were not afraid of judging harshly, I should be almost tempted to say that there is a strong appearance of duplicity in all this.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The manoeuvres of selfishness and duplicity must ever be revolting, but I have heard nothing which really surprises me.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Her duplicity hurts me more than all; till the very last, if I reasoned with her, she declared herself as much attached to me as ever, and laughed at my fears.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life.

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

He did not know, to be sure, that I had overheard his council from the apple barrel, and yet I had by this time taken such a horror of his cruelty, duplicity, and power that I could scarce conceal a shudder when he laid his hand upon my arm.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

What Wickham had said of the living was fresh in her memory, and as she recalled his very words, it was impossible not to feel that there was gross duplicity on one side or the other; and, for a few moments, she flattered herself that her wishes did not err.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)