ambiguous

From Latin ambiguus (“moving from side to side, of doubtful nature”), from ambigere (“to go about, wander, doubt”), from ambi- (“around, about, on both sides”) + agere (“to drive, move”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/, [ɛəmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs]

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɪɡ.jʉ.əs/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɛmˈbəɡ.jʉ.əs/
• Rhymes: -ɪɡjuəs
• Hyphenation: am‧bi‧gu‧ous

ambiguous (comparative more ambiguous, superlative most ambiguous)

1. Open to multiple interpretations.

   Synonyms: equivocal, unclear; see also Thesaurus:vague

   Antonyms: unambiguous, clear

   The politician was criticized for his ambiguous statements and lack of precision.

2. (obsolete, of a person) Hesitant; uncertain; not taking sides.
   • 1662, Thomas Salusbury, Mathematical collections and translations, in two tomes - Salusbury:

     And forasmuch as in this same question I am ambiguous, and Simplicius is resolute....

• contradictory
• mistakable
• confusing

• “ambiguous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “ambiguous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “ambiguous”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.