Link Centre Dictionary

ambiguous

am·bi·guous

UK/æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/ US/æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead

  • “an equivocal statement”
  • “the polling had a complex and equivocal (or ambiguous) message for potential female candidates”
  • “the officer”
  • “s uneasiness”
  • “popularity is an equivocal crown”
  • “an equivocal response to an embarrassing question”
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Antonyms
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2.

having more than one possible meaning

  • “ambiguous words”
  • “frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy”
Antonyms
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3.

having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns

  • “an ambiguous situation with no frame of reference”
  • “ambiguous inkblots”
Similar

Origin

From Latin ambiguus (“moving from side to side, of doubtful nature”), from ambigere (“to go about, wander, doubt”), from ambi- (“around, about, on both sides”) + agere (“to drive, move”).

Phrases

  • situs ambiguous

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.