duplicity
Other forms: duplicities
Though he said he didn't know anything about the footprints in the new sidewalk, his duplicity, or deceitfulness, was obvious from the cement caking his shoes. His mouth said one thing, his feet said another.
Many words with "du" have meanings with "two" or "duo." Duplicity is from a Latin word meaning "twofold, having two parts." Someone who shows duplicity is two-faced — maybe showing one side in public and another in private — or is just a liar, saying something known to be untrue or misleading. A fraud uses duplicity to gain something with false promises, and someone described as "fake" might use duplicity just to fit in or be accepted.
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acting in bad faith; deception by pretending to entertain one set of intentions while acting under the influence of anothersynonyms: double-dealing
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a fraudulent or duplicitous representationsynonyms: fraudulence
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Vocabulary lists containing duplicity
Looking to build your vocabulary? Then practice this list of 300 "hard words" — the kind that used to be tested on the SAT before 2016. If you're a high school student prepping for the SAT, check out Vocabulary.com's Roadmap to the SAT, which focuses on the vocabulary you'll need to ace today's SAT test.
Let's face it, we all (or at least most of us) lie. Whether you just want to spare someone's feelings or want to get away with something you really shouldn't be doing, people bend the truth on occasion. It's no surprise, then, that there are so many words that describe the telling of untruths. Whether the motivation is malicious or kindhearted, there is a nuanced way to describe it. Here are fifteen words to describe liars and the webs they spin. For the full article, check out Fudging It: A Lexicon of Lies
Learn these challenging words that you'll encounter in literature, articles, and textbooks.