double
adjective · adverb · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Of twice the quantity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
duhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʌbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of twice the quantity.
Made up of two matching or complementary elements.
Of a family relationship, related on both the maternal and paternal sides of a family.
Designed for two (people, cars, etc.).
Folded in two; composed of two layers.
Having two aspects; ambiguous.
adverb
Twice over; twofold; doubly.
Two together; two at a time.
Into two halves or sections.
noun
Twice the number, amount, size, etc.
A person who resembles and stands in for another person, often for safety purposes
Someone who closely resembles a famous person (especially an actor)
A drink with two portions of alcohol.
A sharp turn, especially a return on one's own tracks.
A bet on two horses in different races in which any winnings from the first race are placed on the horse in the later race.
verb
Do double duty; serve two purposes or have two functions
“She doubles as his wife and secretary.”
To be the double of; to exceed by twofold; to contain or be worth twice as much as.
transitive
To multiply the strength or effect of by two.
Increase twofold
“The population doubled within 50 years.”
intransitive
To increase by 100%, to become twice as large in size.
transitive
To fold over so as to make two folds.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Doubleverb
“She doubles as his wife and secretary.”
Increaseverb
“The population doubled within 50 years.”
More ways to use double
- “Give me a double serving of mashed potatoes.”adjective
- “Saddam Hussein was rumored to have many doubles.”noun
- “In 1996, Michael Johnson achieved a double by winning both the 200 and 400 meter dashes.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Badminton played with two players on each side.
Increase by a factor of two.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An ax that has cutting edges on both sides of the head.
An ax that has cutting edges on both sides of the head.
A test procedure in which the identity of those receiving the intervention is concealed from both the administrators and the subjects until after the test is completed.
An experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment.
An experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment.
An experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.