duplicity

du·plic·i·ty

noun \du̇-ˈpli-sə-tē also dyu̇-\

plural du·plic·i·ties

Definition of DUPLICITY

1

: contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; especially : the belying of one's true intentions by deceptive words or action

2

: the quality or state of being double or twofold

3

: the technically incorrect use of two or more distinct items (as claims, charges, or defenses) in a single legal action

Examples of DUPLICITY

1. He exposed the spy's duplicity.
2. <we were lucky not to be taken in by his duplicity>

Origin of DUPLICITY

Middle English duplicite, from Middle French, from Late Latin duplicitat-, duplicitas, from Latin duplex

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to DUPLICITY

Synonyms

artifice, cheating, cozenage, craft, craftiness, crookedness, crookery, cunning, cunningness, deceitfulness, deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, dissembling, dissimulation, double-dealing, dupery, deceit, fakery, foxiness, fraud, guile, guilefulness, wiliness

Antonyms

artlessness, forthrightness, good faith, guilelessness, ingenuousness, sincerity

Related Words

equivocation, lying, mendacity, prevarication; chicane, chicanery, fraudulence, hanky-panky, jugglery, legerdemain, mountebankery, obliquity, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery, wile; falsehood, falsity, fib, untruth; hypocrisy, insincerity, sanctimoniousness, two-facedness; artfulness, caginess (also cageyness), deviousness, shrewdness; treacherousness, underhandedness, unscrupulousness; covertness, furtiveness, secrecy, shadiness, sneakiness, stealthiness; oiliness, shiftiness, slickness, slipperiness, slyness, smoothness

Near Antonyms

candidness, candor, directness, frankness, openness, plainness, plainspokenness; honesty, probity; dependability, reliability, reliableness, solidity, trustability, trustiness, trustworthiness; decency, goodness, incorruptibility, integrity, righteousness, truthfulness, uprightness, virtuousness

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with DUPLICITY

basicity, causticity, centricity, chronicity, clonicity, conicity, cyclicity, ethnicity, facticity, felicity, lubricity, mendicity, plasticity, publicity, rhythmicity, seismicity, simplicity, spasticity, sphericity, tonicity, toxicity, triplicity