Janus-faced

comparative more Janus-faced · superlative most Janus-faced

1. Two-faced; double-faced; deceitful.

   Synonyms: beguiling, deceitful, deceptious, deceptive, deceptory, fallacious, fraudful, fraudulent

2. Embodying two opposing forces.

   2 more examples

   Since at the latest the middle of the nineteenth century, then, “liberalism” refers both to a relatively abstract theoretical structure — a collection of characteristic arguments, ideals, values, concepts — and to a social reality, a political movement that is at least partially institutionalized in organized parties. Janus-faced historical phenomena of this kind that encompass both conceptual or theoretical elements and real social forces pose special difficulties for traditional forms of philosophy.

   2005, Raymond Geuss, Outside Ethics, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 13

   Both sides of this Janus-faced creator, the revolutionary and the conservative, are not only visible, but engage in an ongoing dialogue — a witty and profound conversation between cast iron and shimmering glass that will amuse, instruct and inspire passers-by as long as the Hallidie Building stands on Sutter Street.

   2021 March 19, Gary Kamiya, “One of San Francisco’s strangest buildings was a mash-up masterpiece”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2026