univocal
Americanadjective
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of univocal
1535–45; < Late Latin ūnivōc ( us ) ( ūni- uni- + -vōcus, adj. derivative of vōx, stem vōc-, voice ) + -al 1
Explanation
Something that's univocal is so clear that there's only one way to interpret it. A dog that's growling ferociously and baring its teeth is sending a univocal message to keep your distance. You might also call univocal things "unambiguous." There's no way to misunderstand something that's truly univocal — its meaning is consistent and obvious. Your mom's univocal instruction to be home by 9:00 PM leaves no room for doubt: she means 9:00, not 9:30 or 10:15. This adjective is most often used in linguistics to talk about words, and its Latin roots are uni-, "having only one," and vox, "voice."
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.
A term is said to be Univocal, when it has one and the same meaning wherever it occurs.
From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph
Univocal, ū-niv′ō-kal, adj. having one meaning only: having unison of sounds.—n. a word with but one meaning.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
I answer that, Univocal predication is impossible between God and creatures.
From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint
Univocal, equivocal, ambiguous At least 700 artificial languages are on record.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai
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.
