Ambiguity

//æm.bɪˈɡjuː.ɪ.ti// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being ambiguous; the state of leaving room for more than one interpretation. uncountable

    "His speech was made with such great ambiguity that neither supporter nor opponent could be certain of his true position."

  2. 2
    unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning wordnet
  3. 3
    An instance of this state: words or statements that are open to more than one interpretation, explanation or meaning, especially if that meaning cannot be determined from the context. countable

    "If two persons bore the same name, and confusion was likely to be caused, ambiguity was avoided by adding the name of the father[…]"

  4. 4
    an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
equivocationweasel wordambiguousnessambiguousnessambivalenceamphibologism

Example

More examples

"There is just so much beauty in ambiguity!"

Etymology

From Middle English ambiguite, from Old French ambiguite (French ambiguïté), from Latin ambiguitas, equivalent to ambiguous + -ity.

Related phrases

ambiguity aversion

More for "ambiguity"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.