🇵🇹Portuguese Source WordCode: PT

duplo vínculo

Pronunciation / Transliteration: /ˈdu.pɫu ˈvĩ.ku.lu/

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Double-bind/ˈdʌb.əlˌbaɪnd/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #8500 frequency
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🇵🇹 Example Sentence in Portuguese:

"O funcionário sentiu-se preso num duplo vínculo laboral."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A psychologically distressing situation in which a person receives conflicting messages or imperatives, such that any choice or response they make will result in a negative outcome.

    "Being told to be independent while simultaneously being punished for not following instructions puts an employee in a classic double-bind."
  2. 2

    A difficult predicament or dilemma from which there is no good or logical way out due to mutually exclusive constraints.

    "The company faced a double-bind of needing to cut costs while instantly increasing productivity."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Coined in the 1950s by anthropologist Gregory Bateson and his colleagues to describe a communicative dilemma in which a person receives conflicting messages or imperatives, where any choice leads to negative consequences. The term combines the adjective double, from Latin duplex, and the verb bind, from Old English bindan, reflecting an inescapable psychological or relational entrapment.

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