Word.ws English Dictionary

double life

Syllables: doub·le life/ˈdʌb(ə)l ˌlaɪf/

double life noun: an existence or life that has two aspects, particularly when one of them is regarded as embarrassing, immoral, or unlawful and thus kept hidden from some people.

Noun

double life (plural double lives)

  1. An existence or life that has two aspects, particularly when one of them is regarded as embarrassing, immoral, or unlawful and thus kept hidden from some people.
    • He lived a double life as both a British diplomat and a Soviet spy.
    • [page 153] But perhaps the most remarkable illustration of a double life is one which has been brought before the notice of the scientific world recently; [...] "A sergeant of the French army, F——, twenty-seven years of age, was wounded at the Battle of Bazeilles, by a ball which fractured his left...1875 February, “Have We Two Brains?”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXXI, number 182, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 153 and 154
  2. The hidden, or more unusual, aspect of a person's life.
    • Counterintelligence agents discovered the British diplomat's double life as a Soviet spy.
    • A single mother who vanished from western Colorado more than seven years ago led a double life as a paid escort with many unsavory clients, investigators say.2014 November 22, Associated Press, “Client arrested 7 years after mom with secret life disappeared”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jun...

Examples of double life in a sentence

  • There is no doubt I lead a very double life.1976, C[harles] P[erry] Stacey, quoting William Lyon Mackenzie King, “Mathilde Grossert”, in A Very Double Life: The Private World of...
  • A respected family man who led a double life as a serial rapist touring the country as a travelling salesman has been jailed for life.2004 December 10, “‘Jekyll and Hyde’ Rapist Jailed”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2016:
  • Like Rock Hudson, who also lived a double life as a gay man and highly desired matinee idol, [Tab] Hunter was constantly in fear of losing his career.2005 November 7, Edward Guthmann, “’50s idol Tab Hunter had a secret. He’s gay. And he wrote about it.”, in San Francisco Chronicle, San...
  • During some conflicts people live a double life as both civilians and as guerillas,^([sic]) […]2019 November 6, Richard Hall, The Justice of War: Its Foundations in Ethics and Natural Law, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN:

Forms of double life

pluraldouble lives

Questions about double life

What does double life mean?
Double life means an existence or life that has two aspects, particularly when one of them is regarded as embarrassing, immoral, or unlawful and thus kept hidden from some people.
How do you use double life in a sentence?
There is no doubt I lead a very double life.
What part of speech is double life?
Double life is a noun.
How do you pronounce double life?
Double life is pronounced /ˈdʌb(ə)l ˌlaɪf/ (UK).
What is the plural of double life?
The plural of double life is double lives.

Words near double life in the dictionary

  1. double knitting
  2. double lesson
  3. double lessons
  4. double letter
  5. double letters
  6. double life
  7. double lives
  8. double lock standing seam
  9. double lock standing seams
  10. double magnum
  11. double magnums

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: double life (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-double life.wav, en-us-double life.oga.

Cite this entry: “double life.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/double_life. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.