Ambiguous
adjective
Not clear, or able to be understood in more than one way.
His speech was ambiguous and confused everyone.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous speech
- ambiguous answer
adjective
Can be understood in two or more possible senses or ways.
The ambiguous nature of her smile left him guessing.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous nature
- ambiguous terms
adjective
Unclear or doubtful in meaning.
The language in the contract is too ambiguous.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous language
- ambiguous contract
Usage tips
Formal
Legal
adjective
Not clear, or able to be understood in more than one way.
His speech was ambiguous and confused everyone.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous speech
- ambiguous answer
adjective
Can be understood in two or more possible senses or ways.
The ambiguous nature of her smile left him guessing.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous nature
- ambiguous terms
adjective
Unclear or doubtful in meaning.
The language in the contract is too ambiguous.
Often appears as...
- ambiguous language
- ambiguous contract
Usage tips
Formal
Legal
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Multiple Meanings
Be aware that ambiguous phrases can be interpreted in different ways.
The sign's ambiguous message led to confusion.
Pro Tip 2/3Avoid in Clarity
When clarity is essential, avoid ambiguous language to prevent misunderstandings.
In safety instructions, never use ambiguous terms.
Pro Tip 3/3Clues in Context
Identify the author's intent by looking at the broader context around ambiguous words.
Her ambiguous comment becomes clear with the previous paragraph.
Pro Tip 1/3Multiple Meanings
Be aware that ambiguous phrases can be interpreted in different ways.
The sign's ambiguous message led to confusion.
Pro Tip 2/3Avoid in Clarity
When clarity is essential, avoid ambiguous language to prevent misunderstandings.
In safety instructions, never use ambiguous terms.
Pro Tip 3/3Clues in Context
Identify the author's intent by looking at the broader context around ambiguous words.
Her ambiguous comment becomes clear with the previous paragraph.
Pro Tip 1/3Multiple Meanings
Be aware that ambiguous phrases can be interpreted in different ways.
The sign's ambiguous message led to confusion.
Pro Tip 2/3Avoid in Clarity
When clarity is essential, avoid ambiguous language to prevent misunderstandings.
In safety instructions, never use ambiguous terms.
Pro Tip 3/3Clues in Context
Identify the author's intent by looking at the broader context around ambiguous words.
Her ambiguous comment becomes clear with the previous paragraph.
Compare with
clearcrypticdoubtfuldubiousenigmaticequivocalhazyindeterminateindistinctnebulosityobscurevague
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Video examples
Mind Blown - Hangout to...
tell people no it's not that these tricks are meant to highlight shortcomings in how you perceive reality but I think that one of the cool things is that in a way knowledge is power so upon realizing that you have these shortcomings it might make you pay a little bit more attention into your day-to-day reality you realize that the world is a little bit more ambiguous and
Video examples
The moral roots of...
feel compassion for others especially the weak and vulnerable gives us very strong feelings about those who cause harm this moral foundation underlies about 70 percent of the moral statements i've heard here at ted the second foundation is fairness reciprocity uh there's actually ambiguous evidence
Video examples
How one tweet can ruin...
if you see a kind of unfair or an ambiguous shaming, is to speak up, because I think the worst thing that happened to Justine was that nobody supported her -- like, everyone was against her, and that is profoundly traumatizing, to be told by tens of thousands of people that you need to get out.
Video examples
The biology of our best...
which is, in addition to us being this miserably violent species, we're also this extraordinarily altruistic, compassionate one. So how do you make sense of the biology of our best behaviors, our worst ones and all of those ambiguously in between? Now, for starters,
Video examples
The truth about unwanted...
But she said it again. She said no. Did he listen to her words? In the age of Me Too and Time's Up, people ask me, "How do I even know what my partner wants and likes? Is all consent to be verbal and contractual now?" There are times when consent is ambiguous
Video examples
East vs west -- the...
is based on a cyclical world view. So, it's rapidly changing, highly diverse, chaotic, ambiguous, unpredictable. And people are okay with it. And then globalization is taking place. The demands of modern institutional thinking is coming in.
Video examples
Using language and time...
simple word or in this case the absence of it can contain a world of meaning I'm particularly interested in the way we use language to regard and refer to the passing time the word now for example is so specific and yet so ambiguous now
Video examples
The pattern behind...
And of course, the ambiguous figures that seem to flip-flop back and forth. It turns out what you're thinking about a lot influences what you tend to see. And you see the lamp here, I know. Because the lights on here.
Video examples
Wild Turkeys Imprinting...
these eggs and the little turkey stopped immediately in his little shaking wet head rotated and he looked me square in the eyes and there was something very unambiguous transpired in that moment
Video examples
The dirty secret of...
because, if we accept at face value that humans are fundamentally selfish, and then we look around the world at all of the unambiguous prosperity in it, then it follows logically,
Video examples
Mind Blown - Hangout to...
tell people no it's not that these tricks are meant to highlight shortcomings in how you perceive reality but I think that one of the cool things is that in a way knowledge is power so upon realizing that you have these shortcomings it might make you pay a little bit more attention into your day-to-day reality you realize that the world is a little bit more ambiguous and
Video examples
The moral roots of...
feel compassion for others especially the weak and vulnerable gives us very strong feelings about those who cause harm this moral foundation underlies about 70 percent of the moral statements i've heard here at ted the second foundation is fairness reciprocity uh there's actually ambiguous evidence
Video examples
How one tweet can ruin...
if you see a kind of unfair or an ambiguous shaming, is to speak up, because I think the worst thing that happened to Justine was that nobody supported her -- like, everyone was against her, and that is profoundly traumatizing, to be told by tens of thousands of people that you need to get out.
Video examples
The biology of our best...
which is, in addition to us being this miserably violent species, we're also this extraordinarily altruistic, compassionate one. So how do you make sense of the biology of our best behaviors, our worst ones and all of those ambiguously in between? Now, for starters,
Video examples
The truth about unwanted...
But she said it again. She said no. Did he listen to her words? In the age of Me Too and Time's Up, people ask me, "How do I even know what my partner wants and likes? Is all consent to be verbal and contractual now?" There are times when consent is ambiguous
Video examples
East vs west -- the...
is based on a cyclical world view. So, it's rapidly changing, highly diverse, chaotic, ambiguous, unpredictable. And people are okay with it. And then globalization is taking place. The demands of modern institutional thinking is coming in.
Video examples
Using language and time...
simple word or in this case the absence of it can contain a world of meaning I'm particularly interested in the way we use language to regard and refer to the passing time the word now for example is so specific and yet so ambiguous now
Video examples
The pattern behind...
And of course, the ambiguous figures that seem to flip-flop back and forth. It turns out what you're thinking about a lot influences what you tend to see. And you see the lamp here, I know. Because the lights on here.
Video examples
Wild Turkeys Imprinting...
these eggs and the little turkey stopped immediately in his little shaking wet head rotated and he looked me square in the eyes and there was something very unambiguous transpired in that moment
Video examples
The dirty secret of...
because, if we accept at face value that humans are fundamentally selfish, and then we look around the world at all of the unambiguous prosperity in it, then it follows logically,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Leila Slimani
French Writer
A nanny is a woman who lives in an apartment, but the apartment is not her own. She raises children, teaches them how to walk, how to speak; she gives them food - but these children are not her children. So she is in a very ambiguous place.
Quote examples
May Sarton
American Poet
May we agree that private life is irrelevant? Multiple, mixed, ambiguous at best - out of it we try to fashion the crystal clear, the singular, the absolute, and that is what is relevant; that is what matters.
Quote examples
Stefon Harris
American Musician
What happens when an art form becomes ambiguous, I think, is that the standards are lowered. You can say anything is jazz. So I think it's important to reflect on what made jazz so special.
Quote examples
Jean-Michel Jarre
French Musician
The whole 'Electronica' project is about the ambiguous relationship we have with technology: on the one side, we have the world in our pocket; on the other, we are spied on constantly.
Quote examples
Vladimir Putin
Russian Statesman
In the modern world, those who are weak will get unambiguous advice from foreign visitors which way to go and what policy course to pursue.
Quote examples
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Italian Director
Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous.
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
Alexei Sayle
British Comedian
I feel really ambiguous about the psychology of people trying to do good in the world.
Quote examples
Keith Richards
English Musician
I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.
Quote examples
Bernardo Bertolucci
Italian Writer
I left the ending ambiguous, because that is the way life is.
Quote examples
Leila Slimani
French Writer
A nanny is a woman who lives in an apartment, but the apartment is not her own. She raises children, teaches them how to walk, how to speak; she gives them food - but these children are not her children. So she is in a very ambiguous place.
Quote examples
May Sarton
American Poet
May we agree that private life is irrelevant? Multiple, mixed, ambiguous at best - out of it we try to fashion the crystal clear, the singular, the absolute, and that is what is relevant; that is what matters.
Quote examples
Stefon Harris
American Musician
What happens when an art form becomes ambiguous, I think, is that the standards are lowered. You can say anything is jazz. So I think it's important to reflect on what made jazz so special.
Quote examples
Jean-Michel Jarre
French Musician
The whole 'Electronica' project is about the ambiguous relationship we have with technology: on the one side, we have the world in our pocket; on the other, we are spied on constantly.
Quote examples
Vladimir Putin
Russian Statesman
In the modern world, those who are weak will get unambiguous advice from foreign visitors which way to go and what policy course to pursue.
Quote examples
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Italian Director
Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous.
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
Alexei Sayle
British Comedian
I feel really ambiguous about the psychology of people trying to do good in the world.
Quote examples
Keith Richards
English Musician
I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.
Quote examples
Bernardo Bertolucci
Italian Writer
I left the ending ambiguous, because that is the way life is.
Example 1 of 10
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