noun

• A word or phrase that is open to more than one interpretation.

  ‘the title of the movie has a double meaning’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a double-meaning punchline’
  • ‘The book's subtitle, 'Her Voice in Paradise', has a double meaning.’
  • ‘You need a handbook for guys just to understand the double meaning to everything they say!’
  • ‘He knew without a doubt there was a double meaning to her words.’
  • ‘Her friends all heard the double meaning in her words.’
  • ‘It's quite rude, full of double meanings.’
  • ‘He controls his rhetoric to the point that there is absolutely no space for double meanings or misunderstandings.’
  • ‘People might read double meaning into that, the station manager was sternly told.’
  • ‘Today that rallying cry of the 1970's Feminist Movement rings with ironic and sometimes disastrous double meaning in the American workplace.’
  • ‘"You're awake now, Daddy," he says cheerfully in a line heavy with double meaning.’
  • ‘"I suppose you could read a double meaning into the slogan," said Heineken's marketing manager Deirdre Watters.’
  • ‘When words have double meanings or change in meaning over time, it's no wonder there is such confusion.’
  • ‘In times of crisis and press censorship, resistance movements relied on songs or fiction with double meanings to circulate rebel messages.’
  • ‘It was a naughty suggestion about fast cars and fast women, with a double meaning thrown in about racing over curves and blinding with headlights.’
  • ‘In course of time, cinema has come to feature "double-meaning dialogues", a trend which disturbs her.’
  • ‘Schwab notes that, in Endgame, the double-meaning structure of language breaks down.’
  • ‘Please take a moment to re-read the last sentence and fully explore its double-meaning.’
  • ‘Whether it's weaving in opaque, double-meaning lyrics or sneaking a horn part way deep in the mix, the compositions on Twin Cinema are immediate yet multi-layered.’
  • ‘While Mrs. Connelly is generally a sweet and proper old lady, she has a few outrageous or double-meaning lines.’
  • ‘Double-meaning lines alone aren't enough to make a film entertaining.’
  • ‘"Performative" itself carries the double-meaning of "dramatic" and "non-referential."’

  Synonyms

  pun, wordplay, double entendre, double meaning, innuendo, witticism, quip, quibble