A double entendre is a phrase constructed to carry two distinct meanings — one straightforward and the other usually more subtle, ironic, or risqué — where the second meaning only surfaces under reflection. It is a deliberate figure of speech, a linguistic artifact that exploits ambiguity as a tool of wit, persuasion, or concealment. The mechanism is the pairing of a surface reading with a latent reading, both grammatically valid, separated by context or implication. [formal: double entendre | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
double entendre
A double entendre is a phrase constructed to carry two distinct meanings — one straightforward and the other usually more subtle, ironic, or risqué — where the second meaning only surfaces under reflection. It is a deliberate figure of spe…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A figure-of-speech is a human-made linguistic construct: a word or phrase deliberately crafted to carry two distinct meanings, one typically straightforward and the other subversive or risqué. Humans invented it to compress ambiguity into a single utterance, building social games around interpretation that persist through teaching, literature, and everyday conversation.
Names and aliases
- double entendreen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrtfjde400049zhnv4xb5z4fINSTANCE_OF →
A double entendre is a specific kind of figure-of-speech: a word or phrase with two interpretations, deliberately used to produce a rhetorical effect. A competent speaker would call a double entendre a figure of speech. This follows the same pattern as Ezra's accepted irony INSTANCE_OF figure-of-speech and understatement INSTANCE_OF figure-of-speech.
- cms5dp40901m2i9iq2yy8hsx9INSTANCE_OF →
which-came-first: wordplay (epoch 0) predates double entendre (epoch 0.04), so direction is correct for INSTANCE_OF. double entendre IS a specific kind of wordplay — a word carrying two meanings simultaneously, one of which is usually covert, used for rhetorical or comedic effect. A competent speaker would call a double entendre 'a form of wordplay'.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 20, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 7a014f768f2adf62f05f5db3f7522ea2a72b2c085dba7a7ce2ab2bc83cb5b91b