Ambiguous \Am*big"u*ous\, 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? --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Doubtful; dubious; uncertain; unsettled; indistinct;
indeterminate; indefinite. See Equivocal.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
ambiguous
adj 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" [syn: equivocal] [ant: unequivocal]
2: having more than one possible meaning; "ambiguous words";
"frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were
unable to assemble the toy" [ant: unambiguous]
3: having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in
conventional patterns; "an ambiguous situation with no
frame of reference"; "ambiguous inkblots"
WordNet (r) 2.0
123 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
equivocal
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