disambiguate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disambiguate
First recorded in 1960–65; dis- 1 + ambigu(ous) + -ate 1
Explanation
We will try our best to disambiguate the following definition: to disambiguate is to make a sentence or phrase perfectly clear by removing all uncertainty. Disambiguate is another way to say "clarify," and it's most commonly used to talk about language, linguistics, or the law. A scholar might disambiguate two similar terms by clearly defining them in the paper she's writing. Websites like Wikipedia disambiguate in a similar way, especially when one word, phrase, or name has several different meanings.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Creatives behind the numerous “Scooby-Doo” adaptations have for years tried to disambiguate Velma’s sexuality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
“We have to decide: Is it really the same entity that we are referring to? Sometimes context will disambiguate for us, and often it will not,” Baron says.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 12, 2019
Scurvy was often attended by other diseases of malnutrition—pellagra, beriberi—so its unique symptoms weren’t always easy to disambiguate, and some treatments that seemed to alleviate the malady were actually working on those diseases instead.
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2016
Through a series of studies with rats, it was found that time cell activity could uniquely code successive events and were able to disambiguate overlapping sequences in temporally organized episodes.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 3, 2013
I can only follow the stone's progress for a few seconds before my eyes can no longer disambiguate it from the surrounding countryside.
From Eastern Standard Tribe by Doctorow, Cory
The reason for this is that in all examples we gave so far, the experience is fairly predictable—an impoverished physical stimulus is largely open to interpretation and disambiguated by expectations stemming from context and experience.
From Slate ● May 18, 2018
When Thug launches into “Best Friend,” a sweltering, trudging single that he recently disambiguated, for GQ, Cohen loosens a bit, appearing relieved.
From The New Yorker ● May 6, 2016
In a sense, this process of disambiguating the reference for the name “Kevin” is a process of seeking a more definite description to supplement the proper name.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
The sentence a word is embedded in usually provides a sufficiently disambiguating context.
From Slate ● May 18, 2018
Oddly enough, one of the most easily overlooked disambiguating words in English is the most frequent word in the language: the lowly definite article the.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
