Definition

1. Noun:
   • A ghostly double of a living person: A non-physical, spectral look-alike or duplicate of a living human being, often considered an omen or harbinger of bad luck.
   • An eerie or exact double: In modern usage, it can refer to any person who looks remarkably like another, often with an uncanny or unsettling resemblance.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • In the story, the protagonist was haunted by his own doppelganger.
  • I saw someone who was my exact doppelganger at the train station yesterday.

Advanced Usage

• Cultural/Literary Concept: The doppelganger is a common motif in Gothic and horror literature, symbolizing the darker self, fate, or the uncanny.
  • The novel explores the theme of identity through the protagonist's encounter with his doppelganger.

Variants and Related Words

• Doppelgänger: The original German spelling, often used interchangeably in English.
• Fetch: In Irish folklore, a fetch is a supernatural double or apparition of a living person, similar to a doppelganger.
• Look-alike: A person who closely resembles another (lacks the supernatural connotation).
• Double: A person who looks exactly like another.

Synonyms

• Ghostly double
• Wraith
• Specter
• Apparition (when referring to the supernatural sense)
• Twin (when referring to the non-supernatural, look-alike sense)

Idioms and Phrases

• "To meet one's doppelganger": To encounter someone who looks exactly like oneself.
  • It was a surreal experience to meet my doppelganger while traveling abroad.

Noun

1. a ghostly double of a living person that haunts its living counterpart