doppelganger

Etymology

Borrowed from German Doppelgänger (“ghostly spirit”, literally “double-walker”).

noun

  1. A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts such a person.
  2. An evil twin.
  3. A remarkably similar double.
    Stars in Their Eyes ran for 16 years from 1990, and had the "wow" factor moment of transforming a pub singer into their idol, as the contestant said the famous words: "Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be…" and then stepped out from a puff of dry ice as their musical doppelganger. September 15 2021, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC
  4. (fantasy) A monster that takes the forms of people, usually after killing them.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/doppelganger), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.