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Glite Dictionary
Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

9.5
Two people who look very alike and are hard to tell apart
  • noun
  • /ˈtwidəlˌdəm ənd ˈtwidəlˌdē/
translation icon : Tweedledum y Tweedledee
  • The twins are so alike that people often refer to them as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Examples

  • We can't always be Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

    Up the Sandbox (1972)

  • In their argument, they sounded like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, confusing everyone who was listening.

  • When it comes to their opinions on fashion, they are true Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Synonyms

Tweedledee and Tweedledum
vsTweedledum and Tweedledee
9.7

Two people who look and behave almost the same and are hard to tell apart

has identical meaning but presents the two names in reversed order

Antonyms

as different as dog and cat
  • Informal
6.9

Very different from each other in important ways

How Similar

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
9.5
pair
889 1.0

Surface Forms

Tweedledum and Tweedledee singular
Tweedledum and Tweedledees plural

Morphology

Tweedledum + and + Tweedledee

The phrase consists of two arbitrary proper names from a nursery tale whose literal parts give no clue to the idiomatic meaning 'two very similar people.' Understanding requires cultural or idiomatic knowledge rather than composition of known words, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent names would not be able to derive the meaning.

Etymology

Tweedledum and Tweedledee comes from a children's book by Lewis Carroll, where two nearly identical characters, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, act like mirror images of each other. Because they look and behave the same, the phrase now means 'two people who are very similar' or 'hard to tell apart'.