double-tongued

/'dʌbl'tʌɳd/

Học thuật

Thân thiện

A politician gave a double-tongued speech to the crowd.

Definition

Adjective:
- Marked by deliberate deceptiveness; deceitful, hypocritical, or two-faced: Describes a person who says one thing but means or does another, often to mislead or betray others. The term implies a forked or split tongue, symbolizing the act of speaking from both sides.

Usage and Examples

Adjective:
- The politician's double-tongued promises angered the voters who had trusted him. (The politician's deceitful promises angered the voters.)
- Be careful of double-tongued colleagues who agree with you in person but criticize you behind your back. (Be careful of two-faced colleagues.)
- The spy was known for being double-tongued, feeding false information to both sides. (The spy was known for being deceitful.)

Advanced Usage and Nuances

The term is often used in literary or formal contexts to describe profound moral duplicity. It is stronger than simply being dishonest; it implies a sustained pattern of deception where one's words are consistently at odds with one's true intentions or actions.
It can describe not just individuals but also the nature of statements, promises, or rhetoric that are inherently misleading.

Variants and Related Words

Double-dealing (adj/n): Engaging in deceitful or treacherous behavior.
- He was accused of double-dealing in the business negotiation.
Two-faced (adj): Insincere and deceitful.
- Her two-faced nature made it hard to trust her.
Duplicitous (adj): Deceitful in speech or conduct.
- The duplicitous scheme was eventually uncovered.

Synonyms

Deceitful: Guilty of or involving deception.
Hypocritical: Behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.
Perfidious: Deceitful and untrustworthy (more formal/literary).
Janus-faced: Deceitful, two-faced (from the Roman god Janus, who had two faces).

Related Phrases and Idioms

To speak with a forked tongue: To lie or say something deliberately misleading. This idiom is closely related in meaning to "double-tongued."
- The community felt the corporation was speaking with a forked tongue about its environmental commitments.
To be two-faced: To be insincere and deceitful. This is a more common, colloquial equivalent.
- I thought she was my friend, but she's completely two-faced.

A politician gave a double-tongued speech to the crowd.

Adjective

marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another
- she was a deceitful scheming little thing- Israel Zangwill
- a double-dealing double agent
- a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer- W.M.Thackeray

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