double life

Definitions

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.
2. The hidden, or more unusual, aspect of a person's life.

Equivalents

8 more languages

Ελληνικάσκιά

Suomikaksoiselämä

Magyarkettős élet

Italianodoppia vita

Nederlandsdubbelleven

Polskipodwójne życie

Portuguêsvida dupla

Svenskadubbelliv

Examples

“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 parietal bone. [...] [page 154] Three or four months after the wound was inflicted, periodic disturbances of the functions of the brain made their appearance, and have⟳ continued ever since. [...] For four years, therefore, the life of this man has been divided into alternating phases, short abnormal states intervening between long normal states."”

“Nearly all great criminals lead⟳ double⟳ lives. Strange as it may appear⟳, it is a fact that some of the most unscrupulous rascals who ever cracked a safe or turned out a counterfeit were at home model⟳ husbands and fathers. [...] I recall⟳ one desperate fellow who paid for his two little daughters' education at a convent in Canada, from which they were graduated well-bred and bright young ladies, without ever a suspicion of their father's business reaching them.”

“A man cannot live⟳ a lie⟳ and not be detected in it. He may sometimes live⟳ for years with a cloak about him, enveloping the dark side of his nature, but sooner or later the mask will be torn away, and the true man revealed. There are those who live⟳ double⟳ lives, who, like⟳ the characters in [Robert Louis] Stevenson's famous English novel [Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)], have⟳ the extremes of good and evil in their natures; but, for the sake of human kind in general, let⟳ us be thankful they are few and far between.”

“I have⟳ found in other churches some of the most regular Churchpeople who were living double⟳ lives. Are there any here who are living double⟳ lives, and who have⟳ not obeyed and are not obeying the authority of Jesus Christ—who are tampering with His marriage law— [...]”

“There is no doubt⟳ I lead⟳ a very double⟳ life. I strive to do right and continually do wrong. Yet I do not do the right I do to make⟳ it a cloak for evil. The evil that I do is done unwillingly, it comes of the frailty of my nature, I am sorry for it.”

“My account, therefore, of involvement in some of the political developments of the following sixteen years or so is the account of a man who led the double⟳ life of a barrister and a politician, and who, if he achieved any success in either role, owed it all to having the understanding and constant support⟳ of a wonderful wife.”

“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.”

“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. "Finding out who I was, sexually, was one thing," he writes. "Admitting it was something else entirely, since any evidence could have⟳ destroyed my livelihood (or so I thought)."”

“During some conflicts people live⟳ a double⟳ life as both civilians and as guerillas,^([sic]) […]”

“When I wasn't risking my life [as an assassin and double⟳ agent] I was calmly relaxing, or playing guitar, or even working at a regular job. The dangerous part of my life kept me from getting bored. I still didn't have⟳ a clue of how to stop⟳ living a double⟳ life. I couldn't tell⟳ her about any of it either. [...] If I wasn't living a double⟳ life I would probably have⟳ married her that weekend.”

“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⟳.”

“Our window into both worlds—the cluttered “real” one and the expansive virtual-reality alternative—is 18-year-old orphan Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who lives a double⟳ life as a vaguely elven avatar with frosty, malleable hair and a DeLorean constructed from 1s and 0s.”

“A woman only discovered her 'family man' husband had led a secret double⟳ life as a spy after his death. Audrey Phillips, 85, was married to Glyn for 64 years but was unaware he had been working for the British Intelligence Force⟳ since he was 13.”

CEFR level