duplication

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UK/djuː.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/UK/dʒuː.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/US/d(j)u.plɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/

noun

The act of duplicating.

“duplication of cartilage cells”

Opposite
CommonScrabble 16

Meanings

nounduplication (countable and uncountable, plural duplications)

plural duplications

  1. countableuncountableThe act of duplicating.

    Another argument for closing Woodhead was simply one of route duplication, and this was the main reason put forward by BR at the time.

    2021 July 14, Pip Dunn, “Woodhead 40 years on: time to let go”, in RAIL, number 935, page 39
  2. countableuncountableA duplicate.

    Registration of trademarks had been revised and a unit had been set up to clear up duplications.

    1949 January 17, “Essential Oil Association Told Trade Not Normal”, in Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, volume 155, number 3, New York, N.Y., →OCLC, page 7, column 4
    2 more examples

    Counting crimes as given in the index to the Penal Code, their number is nearly twice as great as that stated, but as some are only duplications I have reduced my estimate that it may be well within the limits of the fact.

    1916 March, Edgar Montgomery Cullen, “The Decline of Personal Liberty in America”, in Asa W. Russell, editor, Case and Comment: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 22, number 10, Rochester, N.Y.: Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 820, column 1

    Duplications were made by carbon paper. If you had a pleading to be sent to three parties, you typed an original and four carbon copies, including an office copy.

    2008, Dan E[lijah] Perry, “Twenty-seven Months in Blue Heaven”, in More Than I Deserve, [Chapel Hill, N.C.]: Chapel Hill Press, →ISBN, part I (Recollections and Memories), page 223
  3. countableuncountableA folding over; a fold.
  4. countableuncountablebiologyThe act or process of dividing by natural growth or spontaneous action.

    duplication of cartilage cells

  5. countableuncountablebiologyThe act of copying a nucleotide sequence from one chromosome to another.
  6. countableuncountablebiologyA nucleotide sequence copied through such a process.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
Opposite

nouna copy that corresponds to an original exactly

Similar
Broader

nounthe act of copying or making a duplicate (or duplicates) of something

Similar
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinduplicō
  2. Late Latinduplicātiō, duplicātiōnem
  3. Middle Frenchduplication
  4. Middle Englishduplicacioun
  5. Englishduplication

From Middle English duplicacioun, from Middle French duplication, from Late Latin duplicātiō, duplicātiōnem, from Latin duplicō. Morphologically duplicate + -ion.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian удвояване, вадене на копия
  • удвояване (udvojavane)duplicating
  • вадене на копия (vadene na kopija)duplicating
Catalan duplicació
  • duplicacióduplicating
Finnish jakautuminen, monistaminen
  • jakautuminendividing
  • monistaminenduplicating
  • monistusduplicating
French duplication
  • duplicationduplicating
German Duplikation
  • Duplikationduplicating
Italian duplicazione
  • duplicazioneduplicating
Māori tāruatanga
  • tāruatangaduplicating
Polish duplikacja, duplikacja
  • duplikacjadividing
  • duplikacjaduplicating
Portuguese duplicação
  • duplicaçãoduplicating
Romanian duplicare
  • duplicareduplicating
Spanish duplicación
  • duplicaciónduplicating

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with duplication

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

duplication. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duplication

MLA

“duplication.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duplication. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “duplication,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/duplication.

Source: duplication on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.