unclear
Britishadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
When something's unclear it's hard to see or understand. If the directions for assembling your new desk are unclear, you might end up with two upside-down drawers and a handful of unused nuts and bolts. If you don't explain something accurately, it will be unclear to the person who's trying to understand. And when a photograph is badly out of focus, it's also unclear — you can't quite see the details. You can also use this adjective for the feeling that results in these situations: "I'm unclear about exactly who's in this photo and why you wanted me to see it."
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.
"While some of the circumstances remain unclear, we are confident that this activity was conducted on behalf of a foreign intelligence service," Taylor told reporters on Tuesday outside Metropolitan Police headquarters in London.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Many details on the evacuation plans are unclear, and residents are wary of trusting officials with their names and addresses.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Whether Anthropic will be able to achieve such a large valuation is unclear.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
They say it’s unclear how SpaceX hits its target for 13 gigawatts of compute by the end of 2027, adding that the target may represent contributions from a new data center campus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
If it’s still unclear, rearrange the words in your mind: he invited whom.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
