Meaning & use
two-sided person
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Meanings
nouncountabledisapproving
Someone who behaves differently with different people, so others cannot tell what they really think or feel.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a two-sided person or two two-sided people.
Patterns
- a two-sided person
- be a two-sided person
- seem like a two-sided person
She seems warm in meetings but cold to her team, so some colleagues call her a two-sided person.
He is a two-sided person: generous with friends, harsh with strangers.
Nobody trusts a two-sided person who says one thing here and another thing there.
nouncountabledisapproving
Someone who shows one pleasant face in public but acts very differently in private.
Grammar: Often used with seem, appear or turn out to describe a hidden side.
Patterns
- turn out to be a two-sided person
- appear to be a two-sided person
On camera he is charming, but at home he turns out to be a two-sided person.
Voters began to see the mayor as a two-sided person after the recordings were released.
Word forms
| plural | two-sided people |
|---|
Common combinations
- a two-sided person
- Calling someone a two-sided person is a serious criticism of their honesty.
- come across as a two-sided person
- He comes across as a two-sided person because his stories keep changing.
- a bit of a two-sided person
- She's a bit of a two-sided person, friendly to your face and sharp behind your back.
- see someone as a two-sided person
- After the scandal, the public saw him as a two-sided person.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hypocrite
- Stronger and more accusing; it says the person pretends to have better morals than they really have.
- insincere
- An adjective rather than a noun, and it focuses on feelings that are not genuine rather than on behaving differently with different groups.
- two-faced
- Very close in meaning and much more common; it stresses betrayal and is the word most speakers would choose.
Opposites
Word family
- two-faced adjective
- Behaving dishonestly toward people while pretending to be a friend.
- two-sidedness noun
- The quality of having or showing two very different sides.
Commonly confused: two-sided person or two-faced? two-sided person or double-sided?
two-sided person vs two-faced
Two-faced is the standard everyday word for someone who betrays others; two-sided person is a looser description and is used less often.
two-sided person vs double-sided
Double-sided describes paper, tape or disks printed on both sides, not people.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase works as a countable noun after 'a' and describes a person's character. The other options break the grammar: 'of the story' does not fit the meaning, 'two-sided person' is not a verb, and option 3 omits the article.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “two-sided person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.