DEFINITIONS

ambiguity

[ am-bi-gyoo-i-tee ]
/ ˌæm bɪˈgyu ɪ ti /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR ambiguity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural am·bi·gu·i·ties.

doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention: to speak with ambiguity; an ambiguity of manner.
an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, etc.: a contract free of ambiguities; the ambiguities of modern poetry.

Content related to ambiguity

What Is The Difference Between “Partly” And “Partially”?Generally, the words may be used interchangeably to refer to some amount or degree that is less than the whole. For example, you can say: She is partly responsible for their fighting. / She is partially responsible for their fighting. However, partially may imply favoritism because it is related to ‘partial’ and does have the archaic sense ‘in a biased manner’. To avoid ambiguity when describing favoritism, say: He is ‘partial’ …
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Our Favorite Viral Optical Illusions ExplainedWhat’s not to love about optical illusions? The magical, mysterious, mind-bending visuals never cease to evoke a series of ‘“woahs” and “what the’s--.” Words usually fail to describe them. Yet, one common word that is often used is trippy, hearkening to the psychedelic days of the ‘60s and ‘70s. But, believe it or not, the first optical illusions emerged far earlier, in the 5th century B.C. They even had Aristotle bumfuzzled! From Medieval Latin, opticus means “of sight or seeing” and ludere, “to play”—thus, optical illusions are visuals that essentially “play with one’s sight.” Because these images are invested with such mysterious power, we think optical illusions are some of the coolest didactic devices known to man. They’re brilliant to look at, and they teach us to question everything. So, to honor these powerful images, we want to share with you their proper names—because, honestly, trippy only holds up in the basement. Get your brains and eyeballs ready. They will be boggled.
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Words related to ambiguity

vagueness, doubt, uncertainty, equivocation, obscurity, puzzle, doubtfulness, dubiousness, tergiversation, indefiniteness, enigma, anagram, dubiety, incertitude, polysemy, equivocality, double-entendre, equivocacy

Words nearby ambiguity

ambient, ambient air standard, ambient music, ambient noise, ambiente, ambiguity, ambiguous, ambiguous external genitalia, ambiguous nucleus, ambilateral, ambilevous

Origin of ambiguity

1375–1425; late Middle English ambiguite < Latin ambiguitās, equivalent to ambigu(us) ambiguous + -itās -ity

OTHER WORDS FROM ambiguity

non·am·bi·gu·i·ty, noun, plural non·am·bi·gu·i·ties.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ambiguity

British Dictionary definitions for ambiguity

ambiguity
/ (ˌæmbɪˈɡjuːɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the possibility of interpreting an expression in two or more distinct ways
an instance of this, as in the sentence they are cooking apples
vagueness or uncertainty of meaningthere are several ambiguities in the situation
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012