Ambiguous

Definitions: Ambiguous

Ambiguous

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 equivocal behavior increased the victim's uneasiness"; "popularity is an equivocal crown"; "an equivocal response to an embarrassing question".

2. Having more than one possible meaning; "ambiguous words"; "frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy".

3. (psychology) having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns; "an ambiguous situation with no frame of reference"; "ambiguous inkblots".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "ambiguous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references)

Etymology: Ambiguous \Am*big"u*ous\, adjective. [Latin expression ambiguus, from ambigere to wander about, waver; amb- agere to drive.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonym: Ambiguous

Equivocalness

Adjective: equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous, homonymous; double-tongued; (lying); enigmatical, indeterminate.

Uncertainty

Vague; indeterminate, indefinite; ambiguous, equivocal; undefined, undefinable; confused; (indistinct); mystic, oracular; dazed.

Unintelligibility

Indefinite, garbled; (indistinct); perplexed; (confused); undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic, acroamatical; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed.

Crosswords: Ambiguous

Books

• A Trail of Ambiguous Picture Postcards (reference)

• Ambiguous Adventure (African Writers Series, 119) (reference)

• Ambiguous Lives: Free Women of Color in Rural Georgia 1789-1879 (reference)

• Ambiguous Memory: The Nazi Past and German National Identity (reference)

• An Ambiguous Power: The European Union in a Changing World (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Ambiguous (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

With the discovery of the gene defective in CF, the sweat test can be supplemented by genetic tests when the results are ambiguous. (references)

The importance of the AR gene for normal sexual development was revealed by a study of five subjects with ambiguous reproductive organs. (references)

Also, given the acceptance criteria of the systematic review, which excluded all studies without histologic confirmation, the results regarding the validities of the examined modalities were ambiguous. (references)

Civil Liberties

Saudi Arabia

The legal status of these devices is ambiguous. (references)

Vietnam

There continued to be an ambiguous line between what constituted private speech about sensitive matters, which the authorities would tolerate, and public speech in those areas, which they would not. (references)

Tunisia

Despite its ambiguous legal status, the group (with 15 to 20 members) reports that it has been free to pursue its social and medical work without interference and states that it does not believe that it has been subject to religious discrimination. (references)

Economic History

Kuwait

Tax exclusions--besides those offered under the new Foreign Investment Law--for business expenses are limited and Kuwait's tax code is often ambiguous. (references)

Russia

In response, the Duma passed a new, restrictive, and potentially discriminatory law in October 1997. The law is very complex, with many ambiguous and contradictory provisions. (references)

China

Although the Chinese government has simplified the legal and regulatory environment for foreign investors in recent years, China's laws and regulations are still often ambiguous. (references)

Human Rights

Yemen

The Constitution is ambiguous regarding the prohibition of cruel or inhuman punishment, and members of the security forces tortured and otherwise abused persons in detention. (references)

Syria

Additionally, those suspected of political or national security offenses also may be arrested and prosecuted under ambiguous and broad articles of the Penal Code, and subsequently tried in either the criminal or security courts. (references)

Political Economy

ARGENTINA

However, the new patent regime does not provide patent protection for products under development, does not adequately protect confidential data, and contains ambiguous language on parallel imports and compulsory licenses. (references)

Trade

Canada

In general, environmental claims that are ambiguous, misleading or irrelevant, or that cannot be substantiated, should not be used. (references)

Women

Yemen

The NWC's 7-member legal committee, consisting of lawyers, women's rights experts, and Islamic scholars, found that 10 laws contained discriminatory language or "negligence with respect to women" and that 15 others were ambiguous because the laws used the masculine impersonal pronoun when the statutes governed women as well as men. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Ending with "ambiguous": ever-ambiguous, multiply-ambiguous, non-ambiguous.

Albanian

i errët (abstruse, addle, arcane, black, blind, cloudy, dark, darkling, darksome, deep, delphian, delphic, dim, dingy, dusky, foggy, fuscous, gloomy, indeterminate, inky, low-browed, mirk, misted, muddy, murk, murky, nebulous, nigrescent, obscure, opaque, recondite, sable, sad, secret, shady, somber, sombre, tenebrous), i dykuptueshëm (equivocal). (various references)

Arabic 

‏ملتبس (doubtful, dubious, equivocal, obscure, uncertain, vague), ‏مبهم (abstruse, cryptic, dark, dim, enigmatic, equivocal, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, inscrutable, misty, mysterious, mystic, obscure, recondite, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible, vague), ‏غامض (abstruse, cloudy, deep, dim, double faced, dreamy, enigmatic, evasive, fuzzy, grave, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, inscrutable, intangible, lax, magic, magical, misty, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque, puzzling, recondite, secret, shady, sketchy, slippery, sloppy, uncertain, unintelligible, vague, woolly). (various references)

Bulgarian 

съмнителен (alleged, amphibious, dingy, disputable, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, fishy, fly-by-night, hedge, hole-and-corner, indeterminate, moot, off beat, phoney, precarious, problematic, queer, questionable, screwy, seedy, shady, shaky, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unsure, vague), неясен (abstruse, amorphous, blear, bleary, confused, crepuscular, dark, doubtful, dreamy, dusk, fuzzy, hazy, illegible, inarticulate, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indistinct, intangible, involved, inward, loose, misty, muddy, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, pale, recondite, shadowy, soft, transcendental, ulterior, unclear, undecided, unformed, vague, vapory, vapoury, wan, woolly), неопределен (amorphous, formless, inconclusive, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indistinct, inexplicit, infinitive, loose, neutral, nondescript, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, unidentified, vague), двусмислен (ambiguity, dark, double, double meaning, double-barrelled, double-hearted, equivocal, oracular, two-edged, vague). (various references)

Chinese 

曖昧 (illicit, shady), 模棱两可 (Equivocal). (various references)

Czech

neurèitý (impressionistic, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, intangible, undeclared, vague), nejasný (abstruse, dim, dimmish, equivocal, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, indistinct, misty, obscure, stolid, tenuous, unclear, vague, woolly), dvojznaèný, dvojsmyslný (backhanded, double-minded, equivocal). (various references)

Danish

tvetydig. (various references)

Dutch

dubbelzinnig, dubbelslachtig. (various references)

Esperanto

ambigua, dusignifa, dusenca. (various references)

Faeroese

tvískiltur. (various references)

Farsi 

مبهم (Dim, Dusky, Enigmatic, Esoteric, Imprecise, Misty, Mysterious, Obscure, Opaque, Vague), دوپهلو (Equivocal), باابهام . (various references)

Finnish

kaksiselitteinen, kaksimielinen (equivocal). (various references)

French

ambigu. (various references)

Frisian

dûbelsinnich. (various references)

German

zweideutig (ambiguously, equivocal, equivocally, suggestive), mehrdeutig (equivocal, equivocally), verschwommen (bleary, blurred, blurry, dim, dreamy, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, misty, muzzy, shadowy, vague, woolly), mehrdeutige. (various references)

Greek 

ασαφήσ (blear, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, indistinct, inexplicit, misty, vague), αμφίλογοσ (equivocal, evasive), Ασαφής, διφορούμενοσ (equivocal, oracular). (various references)

Hebrew 

�"ו משמעי (ambivalent, equivocal). (various references)

Hungarian

zavaros (bleary, blurred, chaotic, cloudy, confused, feculent, fustian, haywire, hugger-mugger, incoherent, indistinct, intricate, motley, muddled, muddling, muddy, obscure, puddly, rambling, roily, troubled, troublous, turbid), kettôs, kétértelmû (ambivalent, double entendre, double meaning, equivocal, oracular, two sided). (various references)

Indonesian

ambigu, dwiarti, berarti dua. (various references)

Italian

equivoco (ambiguity, dubious, equivocal, equivocalness, equivocation, fishy, misapprehension, misunderstanding, shady, shifty, underhand), ambiguo (ambidexter, backhanded, devious, doubtful, equivocal). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

紛らわしい (confusing, equivocal, misleading). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

なまにえ (half-cooked, immature, rare, vague), まぎらわしい (confusing, equivocal, misleading), ふめい (anonymous, ignorant, indistinct, lack of wisdom, obscure, uncertain, unidentified, unknown), ふとくようりょう (noncommittal, vague), かいじゅう (conciliation, equivocal, marine animal, monster, obscure), あいまいも�" (obscure, vague), あいまい (vague), あやふや (uncertain, vague), もうろう (dim, faint, hazy, indistinct, vague). (various references)

Korean 

� 매한 (noncommital). (various references)

Manx

daa-cheayllagh (equivocal). (various references)

Pig Latin

ambiguousay

Portuguese

ambíguo (double, double-barrelled, double-minded, equivocal, lax). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian

ambíguos. (various references)

Romanian

ambiguu (ambiguously, double, doubtful, equivocal, multivocal, shady), enigmatic (enigmatic, enigmatical, inscrutable, obscure, riddling, unintelligible), echivoc (ambiguity, doubt, equivocal, equivocation, equivoque, multivocal, quibble, shady, suspicious), îndoielnic (arguable, debatable, doubtful, in doubt, lax, otiose, squint, suspicious, uncertain). (various references)

Russian 

неясный (cloudy, dicey, dimmish, dreamy, dubious, dull, esoteric, faint, indistinct, inexplicit, misty, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, recondite, shady, unaccounted-for, unarticulate, unarticulated, unclear), двусмысленный (double-barrelled, equivocal, forked, oracular). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

dvoznačan, dvosmislen (double edged, double meaning, double-barrelled, equivocal, evasive, indeterminate). (various references)

Spanish

ambiguo (backhanded, bisexual, double, double-barrelled, doubtful, equivocal, equivocally, left handed). (various references)

Swedish

tvetydig (backhanded, double-barrelled, dubious, equivocal, indecent, left handed, suggestive). (various references)

Turkish

müphem (undefined, vague), lastikli (elastic, elasticated, equivocal, left handed), iki anlamlı (backhanded, delphic, double, equivocal, two-edged), belirsiz (backhanded, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dubious, dusty, equivocal, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, in the balance, indefinable, indefinite, indescribable, indeterminate, indistinct, inglorious, lax, misty, obscure, off color, off colour, precarious, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undetermined, unsettled, vague). (various references)

Ukranian 

неясний (abstruse, amorphous, blear, blind, blurred, chancy, darkling, doubtful, dusk, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, misty, nebulose, nebulous, nubilous, obscure, opaque, oracular, oraculous, recondite, shadowy, transcendental, unaccounted for, unclear, undistinguished, woolly, wooly), нечіткий (amorphous, blurred, crabbed, cramped, illegible, nubilous, obscure), невизначений (indefinable, twilight, uncertain, undetermined, unsure, vague), двозначний (amphibological, back-handed, double-barrelled, doubtful, equivocal, forked, oracular, oraculous, two-edged). (various references)

Vietnamese 

tối nghĩa không rõ r� ng, nhập nhằng, mơ h�"; nước đôi. (various references)

Welsh

astrus (abstruse, difficult), amwys, amheus (doubtful, doubting, dubious, suspicious), mwys (equivocal). (various references)

ambigua, ambiguum, ambiguus, amphibolus, media, mediae, mediam, medias, medii, mediis, medio, medios, medium, medius. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "ambiguous": ambiguously, ambiguousness, ambiguousnesses. (additional references)

Words ending with "ambiguous": nonambiguous, unambiguous. (additional references)

Words containing "ambiguous": unambiguously. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Ambiguous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ambagibus, ambagious, ambeguous, ambigeous, ambigeuous, ambigious, ambignous, ambigous, ambigua, ambiguious, ambiguis, ambiguoes, ambiguoos, ambiguoous, ambiguos, ambiguouse, ambiguus, ambiquous, ambuguous, amdiguous, anbiguous, imbiguous, mbiguous, umbiguous. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: bigamous.

-3 letters: amigos, ausubo, biogas, gumbos, iambus, imagos, miaous, subgum.

-4 letters: agios, agism, ambos, amigo, bimas, bogus, gambs, gaums, gismo, gumbo, iambs, imago, magus, miaou, obias, ogams, sagum, sambo, sigma, umbos.

-5 letters: abos, agio, aims, ambo, amis, amus, bags, bams, bias, bigs, bima, bios, boas, bogs, bugs, bums, gabs, gamb, gams, gaum, gibs, goas.

+2 letters: ambiguously, unambiguous.

+3 letters: nonambiguous.

+4 letters: ambiguousness, unambiguously.

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