unambiguous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unambiguous
Explanation
If something is unambiguous, there are no two ways to interpret it. If your girlfriend burns all your letters, texts you that she hates you, and moves a thousand miles away, the unambiguous message is that she’s finished with you. If you're nervously reading the manual on how to trap the rattlesnake that's hiding under your bed, you'd hope the instructions would be unambiguous and tell you very clearly what to do. The word unambiguous gets its meaning from un-, meaning "not," combined with the Latin -ambi-, meaning "both ways," and -agere, meaning "to drive." So unambiguous is not driving in two directions — it's going full speed ahead, in just one direction, with only one meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing unambiguous
Power Prefix: un-
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Now I See! Synonyms for "Clear"
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Invisible Man
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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.
Sorsby’s case is an unambiguous black mark for the entire enterprise of legal sports betting, though.
From Slate • Apr. 28, 2026
"Let me state clearly: the law must take its course," says the unambiguous statement from the King, offering no hiding place or protection.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
That’s the unambiguous message from Bank of America chief equity strategist Michael Hartnett in his weekly Flow Show note titled “Long Detroit, short Davos,” published Friday.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 23, 2026
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
But it would have been better to rewrite the sentence to convey the contrast from the start, using an unambiguous connective such as alternatively.
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.
