Meaning & use

dead ringer

phrase·Everyday

A person or thing that closely resembles someone or something else, almost identical.

See it in a sentence

With his curly hair and glasses, he is a dead ringer for his father.

The actress is a dead ringer for the singer she plays in the film.

A note on using this word

Dead ringer is informal and almost always used with for, as in a dead ringer for someone.

Words with a similar meaning

spitting imagelookalike

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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