Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Unambiguous |
UnambiguousAdjective1. Having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning; "As a horror, apartheid...is absolutely unambiguous"- Mario Vargas Llosa. 2. Admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only one conclusion; "unequivocal evidence"; "took an unequivocal position"; "an unequivocal success"; "an unequivocal promise"; "an unequivocal (or univocal) statement". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "unambiguous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A word, phrase, sentence, or other communication is called ambiguous if it can be reasonably interpreted in more than one way. The simplest case is a single word with more than one sense: The word "bank", for example, which can mean "financial institution", "edge of a river", or other things. Sometimes this is not a serious problem because a word that is ambiguous in isolation is often clear in context. Someone who says "I deposited $100 in the bank" is unlikely to mean that he buried the money beside a river. More problematic are words whose senses express closely related concepts. "Good", for example, can mean "useful" or "functional" (That's a good hammer), "exemplary" (She's a good student), "pleasing" (This is good soup), "moral" (She is a good person), and probably other similar things. "I have a good son" isn't clear about which sense is intended.Ambiguity should not be confused with vagueness, in which a word or phrase has one meaning whose boundaries are not sharply defined.
In addition to words with multiple senses, ambiguity can be caused by syntax. "He ate the cookies on the couch", for example, could mean that he ate those cookies which were on the couch (as opposed to those that were on the table), or it could mean that he was sitting on the couch when he ate the cookies. Spoken language can also contain lexical ambiguities, where there is more than one way to break up a set of sounds into words, for example "ice cream" and "I scream". This is rarely a problem due to the use of context. (For more information, see Syntactic ambiguity.)
Philosophers (and other users of logic) spend a lot of time and effort searching for and removing ambiguity in arguments, because it can lead to incorrect conclusions and can be used to deliberately conceal bad arguments. For example, a politician might say "I oppose taxes which hinder economic growth". Some will think he opposes taxes in general because they hinder economic growth; others will think he only opposes those taxes that he believes will hinder economic growth. The politician hopes that each will interpret the statement in the way he wants, and both will think the politician is on his side. The logical fallacies of amphiboly and equivocation also rely on the use of ambiguous words and phrases.
In literature and rhetoric, on the other hand, ambiguity can be a useful tool. Groucho Marx's classic joke depends on a grammatical ambiguity for its humor, for example: Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know. Songs and poetry often rely on ambiguous words for artistic effect, as in the song title "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (where "blue" can refer to the color, or to sadness).
See also imprecise language, logical fallacy, semantics.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ambiguity."
Synonyms: UnambiguousSynonyms: unequivocal (adj), univocal (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: ambiguous (adj), equivocal (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Intelligibility | Unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable; (manifest); unconfused; legible, recognizable; obvious. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Unambiguous |
| English words defined with "unambiguous": androgyne ♦ epicine, epicine person, Express color ♦ gynandromorph ♦ hermaphrodite ♦ intersex ♦ unambiguously, unequivocally ♦ without ambiguity. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "unambiguous": coded character set, comparable standards ♦ Formal Description Technique ♦ naming domain ♦ SDL. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Astronomers have made the first unambiguous detection of an elusive type of object known as a ... Credit: NASA. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Human Rights | Colombia | Kidnaping continued to be an unambiguous, standing policy and major source of revenue for both the FARC and ELN. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Unambiguous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Unambiguous" is used about 314 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 314 | 16,289 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
unambiguous | 8 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "unambiguous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i qartë (apparent, articulate, candid, clear, clear-cut, definite, distinct, evident, explicit, express, fair, formal, Frank, in focus, legible, limpid, lucid, luminous, manifest, neat, obvious, open and shut, palpable, patent, perspicuous, plain, readable, self evident, serene, simple, tangible, unequivocal, visible, well-defined, well-marked). (various references) | |
Arabic | غير مبهم. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ясен (articulate, ash, ash-tree, bright, clean-cut, clear, coherent, crystal, distinct, limpid, lucid, luminous, manifest, matter of course, neat, obvious, pellucid, perceivable, perceptible, perspicuous, plain, readable, robust, serene, sharp, silver, silvery, Square, straight, straightaway, straightforward, tangible, transparent, unshadowed, vivid), недвусмислен (clean-cut, plain, positive, round, specific, straight, unequivocal, watertight). (various references) | |
Chinese | 毫不含糊 (unequivocal), 不含糊 (explicit, not ordinary, really good, unequivocal). (various references) | |
Czech | nedvojsmyslný, jednoznaèný (clear, definite, unequivocal, uniform), jasný (bright, broad, cheerful, clear, clear-cut, definite, distinct, fair, fresh, live, lucid, overt, pellucid, plain, radiant, serene, sheeny, shinny, straight, sunny, unequivocal, vivid). (various references) | |
Finnish | yksiselitteinen. (various references) | |
French | non ambigu. (various references) | |
German | unzweideutig (explicit, in no uncertain terms, unambiguously, unequivocal, unequivocally), eindeutig (absolutely, clear, clear cut, clearly, conclusive, conclusively, definite, definitely, explicit, manifest, manifestly, non-ambiguous, obvious, palpably, plainly, positively, sure, unambiguously, unequivocal, unequivocally, unique). (various references) | |
Greek | σαφής (definite, explicit, lucid), ξεκάθαροσ (decided, definite, unequivocal), ξεκάθαρος (clear cut, well-defined). (various references) | |
Hungarian | félreérthetetlen (broad, express, pointed, unmistakable). (various references) | |
Italian | univoco (unequivocal, univocal), non ambiguo. (various references) | |
Korean | 명백한 (Apodeictic, Apodictic, Apodictical, Apparent, Categorical, Explicit, manifest, Obvious, overt, tangible, undeniable). (various references) | |
Manx | slane shickyr, slane cronnal. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ambiguousunay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | não ambíguo, inequívoco (evident, obvious, unequivocal, unmistakable, water-repellent, watertight), claro (articulate, bright, broad, certain, clean, clear, clearly, distinct, evident, fair, flyaway, fresh, light, lightsome, limpid, lucent, lucid, luculent, neat, obvious, open, open-and-shut, overt, pellucid, perspicuous, plain, plainspoken, pure, self-explanatory, simple, slip-on, specific, tangible, transparent, transpicuous, unclouded, unequivocal, unmistakable, water-repellent, watertight). (various references) | |
Romanian | precis (accurate, accurately, certain, clean-cut, clockwork, dead, decided, decisive, definite, definitely, distinct, due, even, exact, exactly, flat, just, literal, narrow, positive, precise, regular, sharp, sound, specifically, straight, strict, truly). (various references) | |
Russian | недвусмысленный (unequivocal). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | nedvoznačan, nedvosmislen (definite, emphatic, unequivocal). (various references) | |
Spanish | inequívoco (direct, distinct, unequivocal, unmistakable). (various references) | |
Swedish | otvetydig, entydig (clear-cut, distinct, unequivocal, univocal). (various references) | |
Turkish | tam (absolute, accomplished, according to cocker, accurate, all out, at the time, bang, bang on, blank, clear, complete, consummate, correct, dead, desperately, downright, due, engrained, entire, even, exact, exactly, factual, full, full complement, fully, holo-, implicit, ingrained, intact, integral, intimate, just, literal, mathematical, on time, out and out, outright, overall, perfect, plenary, Plumb, plunk, precise, precisely, prize, prompt, proper, punctual, rank, right, rightdown, root and branch, round, sharp, sheer, simple, slap bang, slick, solid, spot-on, Square, stark, straight, strict, the very, thorough, thoroughgoing, to a t, true, trueborn, unalloyed, unmitigated, unredeemed, unreserved, utter, very, whole), kesin (absolute, accurate, assertive, categorical, certain, cheese it, clean-cut, clear-cut, conclusive, decided, decisive, declared, definite, definitive, determined, dogmatic, downright, exact, express, extreme, final, firm, flat, frozen, implicit, indisputable, indubitable, irreversible, irrevocable, mathematical, ocular, outright, peremptory, point blank, pointed, precise, pronounced, rigid, rigorous, round, safe, scientific, specific, spot-on, Square, stark, sure, sure as death, uncompromising, undoubted, unquestionable, unquestioned, unquestioning, utter), açık (aboveground, apparent, articulate, avowed, bare, blank, broad, candid, categorical, clean-cut, clear, clear-cut, cloudless, confessed, decided, declared, decollete, deficiency, deficient, deficient amount, deficit, definite, definitive, direct, distinct, downright, evident, expansive, explicit, exposed, express, expressly, fair, forthright, free, gaping, hospitable, in blank, light, loose, lucent, lucid, luminous, obvious, open, open air, open ended, outdoor, outright, overt, pale, patent, perspicuous, plain, point blank, precise, raw, revealing, round, serene, shadowless, shirt-sleeve, shortage, shortfall, spread, Square, straightforward, swinging, translucent, unashamed, unclouded, uncomplicated, unconcealed, uncovered, uncrossed, undisguised, unequivocal, unlocked, unmistakable, unobstructed, unprotected, unsealed, upfront, vacant, visible, well-marked, wide open, wishywashy). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | rõ r ng; không nhập nhằng nước đôi, không mơ h". (various references) | |
Welsh | diamwys. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "unambiguous": unambiguously. (additional references) | |
| |
"Unambiguous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: unambigious, unambigous, unambiguos, unambiguousl, unbambiguous. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "unambiguous" (pronounced u'nambi"gyuwus) |
| 5 | -y u w u s | tenuous. |
| 4 | -u w u s | fatuous, presumptuous, sensuous, tortuous, voluptuous. |
| 3 | -w u s | assiduous, impetuous, incestuous, inconspicuous, marquess, promiscuous, sinuous, sumptuous, unctuous. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-g-i-m-n-o-s-u-u-u" | |
-2 letters: ambiguous. | |
-3 letters: bigamous, bimanous. | |
-4 letters: abusing, amusing, bagnios, bousing, gabions, mousing, omnibus. | |
-5 letters: amigos, amnios, animus, ausubo, bagnio, basing, basion, bingos, biogas, bogans, bonsai, busing, busman, gabion, gamins, gibson, gobans, gonium, guanos, gumbos, iambus, imagos, mangos, miaous, mungos, musing, nimbus, nubias, subgum, unguis. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-g-i-m-n-o-s-u-u-u" | |
+2 letters: unambiguously. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
