Word.ws English Dictionary

speaking with a forked tongue

speaking with a forked tongue is the present participle and gerund of speak with a forked tongue.

Meaning of speak with a forked tongue

Verb

speak with a forked tongue (third-person singular simple present speaks with a forked tongue, present participle speaking with a forked tongue, simple past spoke with a forked tongue, past participle spoken with a forked tongue)

  1. (idiomatic) To speak deceptively; to be duplicitous or untruthful.
    • He's spoken with a forked tongue to reporters, and his explanations for launching a probe don't pass the plausibility and credibility tests.2008 March 26, “Let a real "probe" begin”, in Sandusky Register online, retrieved 26 Mar 2008

Questions about speaking with a forked tongue

What is speaking with a forked tongue the present participle and gerund of?
Speaking with a forked tongue is the present participle and gerund of speak with a forked tongue.

Words near speaking with a forked tongue in the dictionary

  1. speaking tubes
  2. speaking up
  3. speaking voice
  4. speaking volumes
  5. speaking well of
  6. speaking with a forked tongue
  7. speaking with tongues
  8. speakingly
  9. speakingness
  10. speakings
  11. Speakman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: speaking with a forked tongue (page history and authors); speak with a forked tongue (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.

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Cite this entry: “speaking with a forked tongue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/speaking_with_a_forked_tongue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.