equivocal

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: e=quiv=o=cal

CIDE DICTIONARY

equivocal, a. [L. aequivocus: aequus equal + vox, vocis, word. See Equal, and Voice, and cf. Equivoque.].

•  (Literally, called equally one thing or the other; hence:) Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence.  [1913 Webster]

  "For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes."  [1913 Webster]
•  Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected; as, his actions are equivocal.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful.  Burke.  [1913 Webster]

Equivocal chord (Mus.), a chord which can be resolved into several distinct keys; one whose intervals, being all minor thirds, do not clearly indicate its fundamental tone or root; the chord of the diminished triad, and the diminished seventh.

Syn. -- Ambiguous; doubtful; uncertain; indeterminate.

equivocal, n. 

 A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque.  [1913 Webster]
"In languages of great ductility, equivocals like that just referred to are rarely found."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

equivocal, adj.
1 of double or doubtful meaning; ambiguous.
2 of uncertain nature.
3 (of a person, character, etc.) questionable, suspect.

Derivative

equivocality n. equivocally adv. equivocalness n.

Etymology

LL aequivocus (as EQUI-, vocare call)

THESAURUS

equivocal

agnostic, amalgamated, ambagious, ambiguous, ambivalent, amphibious, amphibolic, amphibological, amphibolous, antinomic, blended, borderline, capricious, chancy, changeable, circumlocutory, clear as mud, clouded, combined, complex, composite, compound, compounded, conglomerate, dappled, dicey, dishonest, disreputable, doubtful, doubting, dubious, duplicitous, eclectic, enigmatic, enigmatical, equivocatory, erratic, evasive, fickle, fifty-fifty, fishy, forsworn, half-and-half, hazy, hedging, hesitant, hesitating, heterogeneous, incalculable, indecisive, indefinite, indemonstrable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, intricate, ironic, irresolute, jumbled, lying, many-sided, medley, mendacious, mingled, miscellaneous, misleading, mixed, motley, multifaceted, multinational, multiracial, multivocal, mysterious, oblique, obscure, open, open to question, oxymoronic, paradoxical, patchy, perjured, perplexing, pluralistic, polysemantic, polysemous, prevaricating, problematic, promiscuous, puzzling, questionable, roundabout, scrambled, self-contradictory, skeptical, suspect, suspicious, syncretic, tenebrous, tergiversant, tergiversating, thrown together, touch-and-go, truthless, unaccountable, uncertain, unclear, unconfirmable, unconvinced, undecided, undivinable, unforeseeable, unintelligible, unpersuaded, unpredictable, unprovable, unsure, untruthful, unveracious, unverifiable, vague, variable, varied, waffling, wavering, weasel-worded, whimsical, wishy-washy

ROGET THESAURUS

equivocal

Impurity

N impurity, uncleanness, immodesty, grossness, indelicacy, indecency, impudicity, obscenity, ribaldry, Fescennine, smut, bawdry, double entente, equivoque, concupiscence, lust, carnality, flesh, salacity, pruriency, lechery, lasciviency, lubricity, Sadism, sapphism, incontinence, intrigue, faux pas, amour, amourette, gallantry, debauchery, libertinish, libertinage, fornication, liaison, wenching, venery, dissipation, seduction, defloration, defilement, abuse, violation, rape, incest, prostitution, social evil, harlotry, stupration, whoredom, concubinage, cuckoldom, adultery, advoutry, crim, con, free love, seraglio, harem, brothel, bagnio, stew, bawdyhouse, cat house, lupanar, house of ill fame, bordel, bordello, impure, unclean, not to be mentioned to ears polite, immodest, shameless, indecorous, indelicate, indecent, Fescennine, loose, risque, coarse, gross, broad, free, equivocal, smutty, fulsome, ribald, obscene, bawdy, pornographic, concupiscent, prurient, lickerish, rampant, lustful, carnal, carnal-minded, lewd, lascivious, lecherous, libidinous, erotic, ruttish, salacious, Paphian, voluptuous, goatish, must, musty, unchaste, light, wanton, licentious, debauched, dissolute, of loose character, of easy virtue, frail, gay, riggish, incontinent, meretricious, rakish, gallant, dissipated, no better than she should be, on the town, on the streets, on the pave, on the loose, adulterous, incestuous, bestial.

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.

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.