doppelgänger

noun

dop·​pel·​gäng·​er ˈdä-pəl-ˌgaŋ-ər 

-ˌgeŋ-,

ˌdä-pəl-ˈgaŋ-,

-ˈgeŋ-

variants or doppelganger

1

a

: double sense 2a

said she had seen his doppelgänger

b

: alter ego sense 1b

c

: a person who has the same name as another

2

: a ghostly counterpart (see counterpart sense 3a) of a living person

Did you know?

According to German folklore, all living creatures have a spirit double who is invisible but identical to the living individual. These second selves are perceived as being distinct from ghosts (which appear only after death), and sometimes they are described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their human counterparts. German writers coined the word Doppelgänger (from doppel-, meaning "double," and -gänger, meaning "goer") to refer to such specters.

Synonyms

• alter ego
• carbon
• carbon copy
• clone
• counterpart
• double
• duplicate
• duplication
• facsimile
• fetch
• image
• likeness
• look-alike
• match
• mirror image
• picture
• replica
• ringer
• spit
• spitting image
• twin

Examples of doppelgänger in a Sentence

In the story, the character is haunted by a doppelgänger.

at the mall today I saw someone who could be your doppelgänger

Recent Examples on the Web

The New Orleans Pelicans released a particularly entertaining video that stars CJ McCollum, along with a doppelganger who is quite the blast from the past. —oregonlive, 17 Aug. 2023

Six butter sculptures presented by the American Dairy Association Mideast feature the classic butter cow and its butter calf, plus four dairy doppelgangers of Ohio inventors next to their inventions. —Annasofia Scheve, The Enquirer, 25 July 2023

Mississippi football's Lane Kiffin led off Thursday with a state of the union and delved into Tennessee's recent verdict in its NCAA recruiting scandal and an, ahem, awkward meeting with his potential doppelganger. —Stefan Krajisnik, USA TODAY, 20 July 2023

And are an equivalent doppelganger verbal pun for Nuha’s poetry collection of ghazals, an Arabic verse form in which Persian poets dealt with loss and romantic love. —Robert Allen Papinchak | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 26 Jan. 2023

There won’t be a Murray brother reunion in Sacramento, but Keegan won’t have to travel too far to see his sibling doppelganger. —Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2023

Snoopy might be a beagle, but his real-life doppelganger is a mini sheepadoodle. —Brandon Livesay, Peoplemag, 12 Apr. 2023

Instead of closure, the Palmers are plagued by unexplained sightings of Alice, and, later, an even more mysterious, bloated-faced doppelganger emerges. —Steven Thrash, EW.com, 28 Oct. 2022

And the entire notion of doppelgangers, not to mention paying attention to what’s happening behind shiny, happy facades, appears to have been introduced into his bloodstream at a very formative age. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2023

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Word History

Etymology

German Doppelgänger, from doppel- double + -gänger goer

First Known Use

1851, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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