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Aug 3, 2007
This week's theme
Words with double connections

This week's words
diplopia
didymous
mackle
double entendre
doppelganger

Next week’s theme
Red-herring words
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

doppelganger

(DOP-uhl-gang-er) Pronunciation Sound Clip

noun: A ghostly counterpart or double of a living person.

[From German doppelgänger, literally a double goer.]

"The classic doppelganger experience is a common theme in fiction where the appearance of the double often announces the hero's death by suicide. Probably the most dramatic illustration is Edgar Allan Poe's William Wilson, who in an attempt to stab his double, kills himself."
Raj Persaud; How You Could Meet Yourself; The Daily Telegraph (London); Jul 19, 2000.

See more usage examples of doppelganger in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)

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