Unclear

//ʌnˈklɪɚ// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To undo the process of clearing. rare, transitive

    "Clearing, unclearing and deleting activities"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Ambiguous; liable to more than one interpretation.

    "The remark she made comparing her life with that of a fish was unclear."

  2. 2
    Not clearly or explicitly defined.
  3. 3
    Not easy to see or read; indecipherable or unreadable.

    "From such a long distance away, the name on the signpost was unclear."

  4. 4
    Not having a clear idea; uncertain.

    "I'm still unclear about what she meant by that remark."

Adjective
  1. 1
    not clear to the mind wordnet
  2. 2
    poorly stated or described wordnet
  3. 3
    not easily deciphered wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
amorphousblurredundecipherablevagueevasivealeatoric

Example

More examples

"It is unclear in Patterson's experiment whether the output objects fully correspond to the designed models."

Etymology

From Middle English unclere, equivalent to un- + clear. Compare Saterland Frisian uunkloor (“unclear”), West Frisian ûnklear (“inoperative, broken”), Dutch onklaar (“out of order, defective, broken”), German unklar (“unclear”), Danish uklar (“unclear”), Swedish oklar (“unclear”).

Related phrases

unclear medicine

More for "unclear"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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