duplicityn.
/djuːˈplɪsɪti/ 1. The quality of being ‘double’ in action or conduct (see double adj.1 5); the character or practice of acting in two ways at different times, or openly and secretly; deceitfulness, double-dealing. (The earliest and still the most usual sense.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > evasive deception, shiftiness > [noun] > double-dealing, duplicity
doublenessc1374
frouncec1374
duplicityc1430
double-heartedness1571
a heart and a heart1583
two hearts1594
ambidextry1611
ambidexterity1755
double-facedness1867
two-facedness1882
double-handedness1883
c1430 J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1840) 165 In symulacioune is false duplicite.
?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. cc.iv Wo worth the man full of duplycyte.
1597 J. Payne Royall Exchange 14 Suche ys the choyce that these make of duplicitie and hypocrisie.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 143 Whether this Duplicity of Tongue be in them Lusus Naturæ, or a meer Device of Art.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. lii. 205 I am astonished he does not see through your duplicity.
1828 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I I. vi. 206 We have here complete evidence of the duplicity of the King's conduct.
2. literal. The state or quality of being numerically or physically double or twofold: doubleness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > duality > [noun]
doublenessa1398
duality1532
duplicity1589
biformity1611
duity1645
twoness1648
dualism1833
twofoldnessa1834
duplexity1856
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. 163 Because of the darkenes and duplicitie of his sence.
1688 R. Boyle Disquis. Final Causes iv. 163 Nature has furnished men with double parts..where that duplicity may be highly useful.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind vi. §13, in Wks. (1863) I. 165/2 We as invariably see two objects unite into one, and, in appearance, lose their duplicity.
1861 G. F. Chambers Handbk. Descr. Astron. ix. 376 The duplicity of Saturn's ring.
1863 C. Pritchard in W. Smith Dict. Bible III. 1375/1 Had they been even twenty times closer, the duplicity of the two stars must have been apparent.
1892 St. G. Mivart Ess. & Crit. I. 403 Due to non-appreciation of our duplicity in unity.
3. Law. The pleading of two (or more) matters in one plea; double pleading.
ΚΠ
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 304 The Plea that containes duplicity or multiplicity of distinct matter to one and the same thing..is not allowable in Law.]
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 201/2 Duplicity. See Double Pleading.
Derivatives
duˈplicitous adj. showing duplicity, deceitful.
ΚΠ
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang.
1966 New Statesman 11 Mar. 350/3 Peggy Mount, as the duplicitous washerwoman,..subdues her comic extravagance.
1969 G. Leff Hist. & Social Theory ii. 44 Whether John was contrite or merely duplicitous in acceding to the barons' demands in 1215 is irrelevant to the meaning of Magna Carta.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1430