ambiguity

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English ambiguite, from Old French ambiguite (French ambiguïté), from Latin ambiguitas.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /æmbɪɡˈjuɪtiː/

Noun

ambiguity (countable and uncountable; plural ambiguities)

1. (countable) Something liable to more than one interpretation, explanation or meaning, if that meaning etc cannot be determined from its context.

   His speech was made with such great ambiguity that neither supporter nor opponent could be certain of his true position.

2. (uncountable) The state of being ambiguous.

Synonyms

• (state of being ambiguous): ambiguousness, imprecision

Antonyms

• unambiguity

Related terms

• ambiguous

Translations

something liable to more than one interpretation

• Arabic: غموض (ar) f
• Asturian: ambigüedá (ast) f
• Catalan: ambigüitat (ca) f
• Czech: mnohoznačnost (cs) f, dvojsmysl (cs) m
• Danish: tvertydighed (da) c
• Dutch: dubbelzinnigheid (nl) f, ambiguïteit (nl) f
• Finnish: monitulkintaisuus (fi), monimerkityksisyys (fi), ambiguiteetti (fi)
• French: ambiguïté (fr) f
• Galician: ambigüidade (gl) f
• German: Ambiguität (de) f, Mehrdeutigkeit (de) f, Doppeldeutigkeit (de) f
• Luxembourgish: Ambiguitéit (lb) f
• Macedonian: двосмисленост (mk) (dvosmíslenost) f, нејасност (mk) (néjasnost) f

• Persian: گنگی (fa)
• Polish: wieloznaczność (pl) f
• Portuguese: ambiguidade (pt) f
• Romanian: ambiguitate (ro) f
• Russian: двусмысленность (ru) (dvusmyslennostʹ), неясность (ru) (nejasnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dà-sheaghachas (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: амбигвитет (sh) f

  Roman: ambigvitet (sh), višeznačnost (sh), dvosmislenost (sh)

• Spanish: ambigüedad (es) f
• Turkish: muğlâlık (tr)