ambiguous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: am=big=u=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

ambiguous, a. [L. ambiguus, fr. ambigere to wander about, waver; amb- + agere to drive.].

 Doubtful or uncertain, particularly in respect to signification; capable of being understood in either of two or more possible senses; equivocal; as, an ambiguous course; an ambiguous expression.  [1913 Webster]
"What have been thy answers? What but dark,
Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding?"  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Doubtful; dubious; uncertain; unsettled; indistinct; indeterminate; indefinite. See Equivocal.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ambiguous, adj.
1 having an obscure or double meaning.
2 difficult to classify.

Derivative

ambiguously adv. ambiguousness n.

Etymology

L ambiguus doubtful f. ambigere f. ambi- both ways + agere drive

THESAURUS

ambiguous

Greek to one, agnostic, amalgamated, ambivalent, amphibious, amphibolic, amphibological, amphibolous, antinomic, beyond understanding, blended, capricious, chancy, changeable, combined, complex, composite, compound, compounded, confusable, conglomerate, cryptic, dappled, dicey, double-faced, doubtful, doubting, dubious, eclectic, enigmatic, enigmatical, equivocal, equivocatory, erratic, fickle, fifty-fifty, fishy, foggy, half-and-half, hesitant, hesitating, heterogeneous, impenetrable, inarticulate, incalculable, incognizable, incoherent, incomprehensible, inconclusive, indecisive, indefinite, indemonstrable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, inscrutable, intricate, ironic, irresolute, jumbled, many-sided, medley, mingled, miscellaneous, misleading, misty, mixed, motley, multifaceted, multinational, multiracial, multivocal, mysterious, numinous, obscure, opaque, oracular, oxymoronic, paradoxical, past comprehension, patchy, pluralistic, polysemantic, polysemous, problematic, promiscuous, puzzling, questionable, rambling, scrambled, self-contradictory, skeptical, suspect, syncretic, tenebrous, thrown together, touch-and-go, unaccountable, uncertain, unclear, unconfirmable, unconnected, unconvinced, undefined, undependable, undivinable, unfathomable, unforeseeable, unintelligible, unknowable, unpersuaded, unpredictable, unprovable, unreliable, unsearchable, unsettled, unsure, unverifiable, vague, variable, varied, wavering, whimsical

ROGET THESAURUS

ambiguous

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.

Equivocalness

N equivocalness, double meaning, ambiguity, double entente, double entendre, pun, paragram, calembour, quibble, equivoque, anagram, conundrum, play on words, word play, homonym, homonymy, amphiboly, amphibology, ambilogy, ambiloquy, Sphinx, Delphic oracle, equivocation, white lie, mental reservation, paltering, equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous, homonymous, double-tongued, enigmatical, indeterminate, on the one hand, on the other hand.