uncertainty

[ uhn-sur-tn-tee ]

/ ʌnˈsɜr tn ti /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR uncertainty ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural un·cer·tain·ties for 2.

the state of being uncertain; doubt; hesitancy: His uncertainty gave impetus to his inquiry.

an instance of uncertainty, doubt, etc.

unpredictability; indeterminacy; indefiniteness.

Words nearby uncertainty

uncaused, unceasing, uncensored, unceremonious, uncertain, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, uncertificated share, unchain, unchallenged, unchancy

Origin of uncertainty

1350–1400; Middle English uncerteynte; see un-¹, certainty

SYNONYMS FOR uncertainty

1 hesitation, irresolution, indecision, ambivalence.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR uncertainty ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for uncertainty

New York blinks in the face of uncertainty and bans hydraulic fracturing.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But for me, this admittance of uncertainty and doubts grounds Serial in reality.
Adnan Killed Her! No, Jay Did It! Serial’s Uncertain, True-to-Reality End|Emily Shire|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His Canon camera dangled by his side and the feeling of uncertainty over what he could now report punctuated everything he said.
Turkey Arrests Journalists in Crackdown|Jesse Rosenfeld|December 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Kundera sees fiction as a realm of many partial truths, its only certainty “the wisdom of uncertainty.”
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

If the certainty of the wisdom of uncertainty is itself uncertain, the force of the definition crumbles by logical standards.
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The person stopped where the road branched off, as if in uncertainty which to take.
Hurricane Hurry|W.H.G. Kingston
The one, rich and full though accompanied perhaps by pain and even denial at times; the other fraught with uncertainty.
When Dreams Come True|Ritter Brown
This uncertainty seems to indicate a certain superficiality in the ordinary empirical way of looking at evolution.
On the Ethics of Naturalism|William Ritchie Sorley
This uncertainty made a most feverish moment on board the Proserpine, as she came up fast toward the headland.
The Wing-and-Wing|J. Fenimore Cooper
The mere admission of such changes may suffice to indicate the doubt and uncertainty which attend enquiries of this nature.
Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I.|Sir James George Frazer

British Dictionary definitions for uncertainty

uncertainty

/ (ʌnˈsɜːtəntɪ) /

noun plural -ties

Also called: uncertainness the state or condition of being uncertain

an uncertain matter, contingency, etc

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

uncertainty

noun, plural un·cer·tain·ties for 2.

Words related to uncertainty

Words nearby uncertainty

Origin of uncertainty

SYNONYMS FOR uncertainty

Examples from the Web for uncertainty

British Dictionary definitions for uncertainty

noun plural -ties