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A double entendre [note 1] (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacceptable, or offensive to state directly.
For the second portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z. Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other region; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively. Additional usage ...
English has many polysemous words. For example, the verb "to get" can mean "procure" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "understand" (I get it) etc. In linear or vertical polysemy, one sense of a word is a subset of the other. These are examples of hyponymy and hypernymy, and are sometimes called autohyponyms. [5]
Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs and "servicing the target" for bombing), [1] in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable.
Signifyin' (sometimes written "signifyin(g)") is a practice in African-American culture involving a verbal strategy of indirection that exploits the gap between the denotative and figurative meanings of words. A simple example would be insulting someone to show them affection. [1]
Word play is closely related to word games; that is, games in which the point is manipulating words. See also language game for a linguist's variation. Word play can cause problems for translators: e.g., in the book Winnie-the-Pooh a character mistakes the word "issue" for the noise of a sneeze , a resemblance which disappears when the word ...
A half-truth is a deceptive statement that includes some element of truth.The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true, but only part of the whole truth, or it may use some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent the truth.
Another example of nearly synonymous doublets is aperture and overture (the commonality behind the meanings is "opening"). Doublets may also develop contrasting meanings, such as the terms host and guest , which come from the same PIE word * gʰóstis and already existed as a doublet in Latin, and then Old French , [ 2 ] before being borrowed ...