amphibological

English

Etymology

From Latin amphibologia.

Adjective

amphibological (comparative more amphibological, superlative most amphibological)

1. (rare) of doubtful meaning, ambiguous, quibbling.
   • 1845, Alfred Binet, The Mind and the Brain (Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps) (Chapter IX, Definitions Of Psychology. Project Gutenberg):

     Consequently it must be recognised that the rather amphibological expression "soulless psychology" implies no negation of the existence of the soul.

2. (linguistics) Grammatically ambiguous.

Derived terms

• amphibologically

 

Translations

grammatically ambiguous

• Polish: amfiboliczny
• Portuguese: anfibológico

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, Angus Stevenson and Georgia Hole, editors (2007), “amphibological”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 6th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• Mrs. Byrne [Josefa Heifetz Byrne] (1979) “amphibological”, in Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words: Gathered from Numerous and Diverse Authoritative Sources, London: Granada Publishing, →ISBN.
• “amphibological”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.