Ambiguity
noun
The quality of being open to more than one interpretation (meaning).
The ambiguity of her smile made him confused.
Often appears as...
- deliberate ambiguity
- inherent ambiguity
noun
Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning.
The instructions are full of ambiguity, I guess they can be interpreted differently.
Often appears as...
- reduce ambiguity
- potential ambiguity
noun
Something unclear or uncertain, causing confusion.
There’s a certain amount of ambiguity in the story which leaves the readers wondering.
Often appears as...
- ambiguity resolution
- sexual ambiguity
noun
In law, when a term or phrase has several meanings that could apply.
The ambiguity in the contract led to a dispute in court.
Often appears as...
- contractual ambiguity
- patent ambiguity
Usage tips
Legal
noun
The quality of being open to more than one interpretation (meaning).
The ambiguity of her smile made him confused.
Often appears as...
- deliberate ambiguity
- inherent ambiguity
noun
Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning.
The instructions are full of ambiguity, I guess they can be interpreted differently.
Often appears as...
- reduce ambiguity
- potential ambiguity
noun
Something unclear or uncertain, causing confusion.
There’s a certain amount of ambiguity in the story which leaves the readers wondering.
Often appears as...
- ambiguity resolution
- sexual ambiguity
noun
In law, when a term or phrase has several meanings that could apply.
The ambiguity in the contract led to a dispute in court.
Often appears as...
- contractual ambiguity
- patent ambiguity
Usage tips
Legal
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Interpretation Variation
Ambiguity often requires context or additional information to determine the intended meaning.
Without context, the ambiguity of 'set' makes it unclear if it refers to a group or readiness.
Pro Tip 2/2Purposeful Uncertainty
Writers sometimes use ambiguity to engage readers, making them think or imagine possibilities.
The ambiguity in the poem's ending left space for various interpretations.
Pro Tip 1/2Interpretation Variation
Ambiguity often requires context or additional information to determine the intended meaning.
Without context, the ambiguity of 'set' makes it unclear if it refers to a group or readiness.
Pro Tip 2/2Purposeful Uncertainty
Writers sometimes use ambiguity to engage readers, making them think or imagine possibilities.
The ambiguity in the poem's ending left space for various interpretations.
Pro Tip 1/2Interpretation Variation
Ambiguity often requires context or additional information to determine the intended meaning.
Without context, the ambiguity of 'set' makes it unclear if it refers to a group or readiness.
Pro Tip 2/2Purposeful Uncertainty
Writers sometimes use ambiguity to engage readers, making them think or imagine possibilities.
The ambiguity in the poem's ending left space for various interpretations.
Compare with
ambivalencecertaintyequivocateimprecisionindeterminacyobscurityopacityvague
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Video examples
3 lessons on decision-mak...
these outcomes don't only depend on the quality of our decision-making, but also the roll of life's dice. For example, we can be perfectly health-conscious and still get unlucky with something like cancer. Or we can smoke 20 a day and live to a ripe old age, and this kind of ambiguity can make it hard for us to know
Video examples
John Hunter: Teaching...
and I have my troublemaker put to use because they, on the surface, are trying to save the world and their position in the game. But they're also trying to undermine everything in the game. And they do it secretly through misinformation and ambiguities and irrelevancies,
Video examples
Zen kōans: Unsolvable...
such as living without physical or mental attachments, avoiding binary thinking, and realizing one’s true “Buddha-nature." But by framing those lessons as illogical anecdotes, they became tests to help practicing monks learn to live with ambiguity and paradox.
Video examples
Why should you read...
increasing their fascination with his surreal worlds and enigmatic characters. The lack of any clear meaning makes Godot endlessly open to interpretation. Critics have offered countless readings of the play, resulting in a cycle of ambiguity and speculation
Video examples
How misused modifiers...
that add information about other parts of a sentence, which is usually helpful. But when modifiers aren't linked clearly enough to the words they're actually referring to, they can create unintentional ambiguity. That happens because the modifying words,
Video examples
Jason Silva on...
huh wow I can think about this now and I can apply this idea to my life and perhaps walk you know go through life being a little less rigid about what is real and what is it and kind of embrace this ambiguity
Video examples
Where does creativity...
And you don't know what is operating, but something is operating there. And ambiguity, to me, is very uncomfortable in my life, and I have it. Moral ambiguity. It is constantly there. And, just as an example,
Video examples
Rethinking infidelity...
desire to feel important. And the very structure of an affair, the fact that you can never have your lover, keeps you wanting. That in itself is a desire machine, because the incompleteness, the ambiguity,
Video examples
The revolutionary power...
but life itself is fluid. They want to divide us into tribes, but we are connected across borders. They preach certainty, but we know that life has plenty of magic and plenty of ambiguity.
Video examples
Isaac Lidsky: What...
And in this respect, it's become, like I said, a real blessing for me personally and for my company, because we communicate at a far deeper level, we avoid ambiguities,
Video examples
3 lessons on decision-mak...
these outcomes don't only depend on the quality of our decision-making, but also the roll of life's dice. For example, we can be perfectly health-conscious and still get unlucky with something like cancer. Or we can smoke 20 a day and live to a ripe old age, and this kind of ambiguity can make it hard for us to know
Video examples
John Hunter: Teaching...
and I have my troublemaker put to use because they, on the surface, are trying to save the world and their position in the game. But they're also trying to undermine everything in the game. And they do it secretly through misinformation and ambiguities and irrelevancies,
Video examples
Zen kōans: Unsolvable...
such as living without physical or mental attachments, avoiding binary thinking, and realizing one’s true “Buddha-nature." But by framing those lessons as illogical anecdotes, they became tests to help practicing monks learn to live with ambiguity and paradox.
Video examples
Why should you read...
increasing their fascination with his surreal worlds and enigmatic characters. The lack of any clear meaning makes Godot endlessly open to interpretation. Critics have offered countless readings of the play, resulting in a cycle of ambiguity and speculation
Video examples
How misused modifiers...
that add information about other parts of a sentence, which is usually helpful. But when modifiers aren't linked clearly enough to the words they're actually referring to, they can create unintentional ambiguity. That happens because the modifying words,
Video examples
Jason Silva on...
huh wow I can think about this now and I can apply this idea to my life and perhaps walk you know go through life being a little less rigid about what is real and what is it and kind of embrace this ambiguity
Video examples
Where does creativity...
And you don't know what is operating, but something is operating there. And ambiguity, to me, is very uncomfortable in my life, and I have it. Moral ambiguity. It is constantly there. And, just as an example,
Video examples
Rethinking infidelity...
desire to feel important. And the very structure of an affair, the fact that you can never have your lover, keeps you wanting. That in itself is a desire machine, because the incompleteness, the ambiguity,
Video examples
The revolutionary power...
but life itself is fluid. They want to divide us into tribes, but we are connected across borders. They preach certainty, but we know that life has plenty of magic and plenty of ambiguity.
Video examples
Isaac Lidsky: What...
And in this respect, it's become, like I said, a real blessing for me personally and for my company, because we communicate at a far deeper level, we avoid ambiguities,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Robert Sapolsky
American Scientist
I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important. Better a stable world that's familiar, in which I'm doing pretty poorly, than dealing with all the ambiguity of a changing world.
Quote examples
Chadwick Boseman
American Actor
I like ambiguity because you may be the villain in someone else's story and the hero in your own, and I think very often, African-American characters are either one thing or the other. You shouldn't have to be perfectly good or perfectly bad. You don't even have to be magical.
Quote examples
Gilda Radner
American Comedian
The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived.
Quote examples
John M. Ford
American Writer
Naturally, the reader has access only to the events I show and the way I show them, but as has been said, there's generally a good deal of ambiguity in that presentation.
Quote examples
Julian Baggini
British Author
Accepting that the world is full of uncertainty and ambiguity does not and should not stop people from being pretty sure about a lot of things.
Quote examples
Laura Dern
American Actress
Having been raised by actors who love moral ambiguity and flawed protagonists, I feel like it's sort of in the blood to want to take it on.
Quote examples
Nancy Kress
American Writer
The worldview implied by literary fiction is complex and ambiguous, trying to be faithful to the complexity and ambiguity of life.
Quote examples
Jason Beghe
American Actor
I've yet to meet a person in my life who doesn't have some moral ambiguity.
Quote examples
Paul G. Tremblay
American Author
Ambiguity is a big part of this post-truth world we're living in.
Quote examples
Keith Richards
English Musician
I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.
Quote examples
Robert Sapolsky
American Scientist
I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important. Better a stable world that's familiar, in which I'm doing pretty poorly, than dealing with all the ambiguity of a changing world.
Quote examples
Chadwick Boseman
American Actor
I like ambiguity because you may be the villain in someone else's story and the hero in your own, and I think very often, African-American characters are either one thing or the other. You shouldn't have to be perfectly good or perfectly bad. You don't even have to be magical.
Quote examples
Gilda Radner
American Comedian
The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived.
Quote examples
John M. Ford
American Writer
Naturally, the reader has access only to the events I show and the way I show them, but as has been said, there's generally a good deal of ambiguity in that presentation.
Quote examples
Julian Baggini
British Author
Accepting that the world is full of uncertainty and ambiguity does not and should not stop people from being pretty sure about a lot of things.
Quote examples
Laura Dern
American Actress
Having been raised by actors who love moral ambiguity and flawed protagonists, I feel like it's sort of in the blood to want to take it on.
Quote examples
Nancy Kress
American Writer
The worldview implied by literary fiction is complex and ambiguous, trying to be faithful to the complexity and ambiguity of life.
Quote examples
Jason Beghe
American Actor
I've yet to meet a person in my life who doesn't have some moral ambiguity.
Quote examples
Paul G. Tremblay
American Author
Ambiguity is a big part of this post-truth world we're living in.
Quote examples
Keith Richards
English Musician
I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.
Example 1 of 10
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