ambiguity

noun
/æm.bɪˈɡjuː.ɪ.ti/UK/æm.bɪˈɡju.ɪ.ti/CA/ˌæm.bəˈɡju.ə.ti/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰider. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Latin ambig(ō) Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Italic *-wos Latin -uus Latin ambiguus Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin ambiguitāsder. Old French ambiguitebor. Middle English ambiguite English ambiguity From Middle English ambiguite, from Old French ambiguite (French ambiguïté), from Latin ambiguitas, equivalent to ambiguous + -ity.

  1. derived from ambiguitas
  2. derived from ambiguite
  3. inherited from ambiguite

Definitions

  1. The state of being ambiguous

    The state of being ambiguous; the state of leaving room for more than one interpretation.

    • His speech was made with such great ambiguity that neither supporter nor opponent could be certain of his true position.
  2. An instance of this state

    An instance of this state: words or statements that are open to more than one interpretation, explanation or meaning, especially if that meaning cannot be determined from the context.

    • If two persons bore the same name, and confusion was likely to be caused, ambiguity was avoided by adding the name of the father[…]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ambiguity. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

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A definitional loop anchored at ambiguity. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at ambiguity

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA