Ambiguity

Definitions: Ambiguity

Ambiguity

Noun

1. An expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context.

2. Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning.

Date "ambiguity" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Ambiguity

Domain	Definitions
Aerospace	In navigation, the condition arising when a given set of observations defines more than one point, direction, line of position, or surface of position. (references)
Language	Ambiguity is present if an element of a sentence cannot be given a unique representation. We have lexical ambiguity(e. g. bank), syntactical ambiguity(e. g. "Time flies like an arrow")and referential ambiguity that appears if a part of a sentence cannot be given a referent uniquely. Source: European Union. (references)
Tips from 1870	Usage: Ambiguity. Never leave the antecedent of your pronoun in doubt. "John tried to see his father in the crowd, but could not, because he was so short." If the father was short, repeat the noun and omit the pronoun, as "John tried to see his father in the crowd but could not because his father was so short." If John was short, recast the sentence: "John, being short of stature, tried in vain to see his father in the crowd." "He said to his friend that, if he did not feel better soon, he thought he had better go home." This sentence is susceptible of four interpretations. We shall omit the first part of the sentence in the last three interpretations, as it is the same in all. "He said to his friend: 'If I do not feel better soon, I think I had better go home.'" "If I do not feel better soon, I think you had better go home." "If you do not feel better soon, I think I had better go home." "If you do not feel better soon, I think you had better go home." "The lad cannot leave his father; for, if he should leave him, he would die." To avoid ambiguity substitute his father for the italicised pronouns. The repetition is not pleasant, but it is the lesser of two evils. Source: Slips of Speech.
Transportation	In navigation, the condition obtaining when a given set of observations defines more than one point, direction, line of position, or surface of position. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Ambiguity

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A word, phrase, sentence, or other communication is called ambiguous if it can be reasonably interpreted in more than one way. The simplest case is a single word with more than one sense: The word "bank", for example, which can mean "financial institution", "edge of a river", or other things. Sometimes this is not a serious problem because a word that is ambiguous in isolation is often clear in context. Someone who says "I deposited $100 in the bank" is unlikely to mean that he buried the money beside a river. More problematic are words whose senses express closely related concepts. "Good", for example, can mean "useful" or "functional" (That's a good hammer), "exemplary" (She's a good student), "pleasing" (This is good soup), "moral" (She is a good person), and probably other similar things. "I have a good son" isn't clear about which sense is intended.

Ambiguity should not be confused with vagueness, in which a word or phrase has one meaning whose boundaries are not sharply defined.

In addition to words with multiple senses, ambiguity can be caused by syntax. "He ate the cookies on the couch", for example, could mean that he ate those cookies which were on the couch (as opposed to those that were on the table), or it could mean that he was sitting on the couch when he ate the cookies. Spoken language can also contain lexical ambiguities, where there is more than one way to break up a set of sounds into words, for example "ice cream" and "I scream". This is rarely a problem due to the use of context. (For more information, see Syntactic ambiguity.)

Philosophers (and other users of logic) spend a lot of time and effort searching for and removing ambiguity in arguments, because it can lead to incorrect conclusions and can be used to deliberately conceal bad arguments. For example, a politician might say "I oppose taxes which hinder economic growth". Some will think he opposes taxes in general because they hinder economic growth; others will think he only opposes those taxes that he believes will hinder economic growth. The politician hopes that each will interpret the statement in the way he wants, and both will think the politician is on his side. The logical fallacies of amphiboly and equivocation also rely on the use of ambiguous words and phrases.

In literature and rhetoric, on the other hand, ambiguity can be a useful tool. Groucho Marx's classic joke depends on a grammatical ambiguity for its humor, for example: Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas I'll never know. Songs and poetry often rely on ambiguous words for artistic effect, as in the song title "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (where "blue" can refer to the color, or to sadness).

See also imprecise language, logical fallacy, semantics.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Ambiguity."

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Synonym: Ambiguity

Synonym: equivocalness (n). (additional references)

Antonym: unambiguity (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Ambiguity

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Equivocalness	Noun: equivocalness; Adjective: double meaning; ambiguity, double entente, double entendre, pun, paragram, calembour, quibble, equivoque, anagram; conundrum; (riddle); play on words, word play; (wit); homonym, homonymy; amphiboly, amphibology; ambilogy, ambiloquy.
Obscurity	Noun: obscurity; (unintelligibility); involution; hard words; ambiguity; unintelligibleness; vagueness; inexactness; what d'ye call 'em; (neologism); darkness of meaning.
Uncertainty	Vagueness; Adjective: haze, fog; obscurity; (darkness); ambiguity; (double meaning); contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility; open question; (question); onus probandi; blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other; needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay; roving commission.
Unintelligibility	Noun: unintelligibility; incomprehensibility, imperspicuity; inconceivableness, vagueness; Adjective: obscurity; ambiguity; doubtful meaning; uncertainty; perplexity; (confusion); spinosity; obscurum per obscurius; mystification; (concealment); latency; transcendentalism.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Ambiguity

English words defined with "ambiguity": Ambiguities, Ambiguousness, Amphilogy ♦ clarify, clear, clear up, crystalise, crystalize, crystallise, crystallize ♦ disambiguation, double entendre ♦ elucidate, enlighten, equivocation, evasiveness ♦ Homonymy ♦ illuminate, Imperspicuity ♦ lexical ambiguity, loophole ♦ monosemy ♦ Out of doubt ♦ polysemy, pseudohermaphrodite ♦ shed light on, sort out, straighten out, straightforward ♦ unambiguity, unequivocalness ♦ without ambiguity. (references)

Specialty definitions using "ambiguity": 12-channel group ♦ Ambiguity, antenna effect ♦ context clash ♦ equivocality ♦ fine data channel ♦ group of 12 channels ♦ Life is hard ♦ Misplaced Relative ♦ one-hundred-and-eighty-degree ambiguity ♦ paramount clause, primitive period ♦ rho-rho ♦ sense antenna ♦ Telecommunications Device for the Deaf. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Ambiguity

Domain	Title
Books	Bernardo Bertolucci: The Cinema of Ambiguity (Twayne's Filmmakers Series) (reference) Dynamics of Diselection: Ambiguity in Genesis 12-36 and Ethnic Boundaries in Post-Exilic Judah (The Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies, no (reference) Literature and Racial Ambiguity (Rodopi Perspectives on Modern Literature 27) (reference) Paul's True Rhetoric: Ambiguity, Cunning, and Deception in Greece and Rome (reference) Risk, Ambiguity and Decision (Studies in Philosophy) (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	The Unanswered Question: The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Ambiguity [IMPORT] (reference) Seven Types of Ambiguity (reference) Tolerance for Ambiguity (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Historic Usage: Ambiguity

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	By common-wealth, I must be understood all along to mean, not a democracy, or any form of government, but any independent community, which the Latines signified by the word civitas, to which the word which best answers in our language, is common-wealth, and most properly expresses such a society of men, which community or city in English does not; for there may be subordinate communities in a government; and city amongst us has a quite different notion from common-wealth: and therefore, to avoid ambiguity, I crave leave to use the word common-wealth in that sense, in which I find it used by King James the first; and I take it to be its genuine signification; which if any body dislike, I consent with him to change it for a better. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Ambiguity

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		The market players' opinion is that the Telecommunications Liberalization Plan leaves ambiguity in the liberalization process. (references)
Economic History	Laos	THE RELIABILITY OF SOME UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATIONS AVAILABLE VARIES, CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT OF UNCERTAINTY AND AMBIGUITY AMONG WOULD-BE FOREIGN INVESTORS. (references)
	Kenya	The elections have been complicated by a stalled constitutional review process and ambiguity about President Moi's intentions regarding a third term in office. (references)
Women	Thailand	NGO's claim that the term is vague and that such ambiguity makes the prosecution of harassment claims difficult. (references)
Worker Rights	Indonesia	Such ambiguity occasionally has led to clashes between unions in a workplace. (references)
	India	Some NGO's note that this ambiguity, which was intended to protect trafficking victims, instead has been exploited to protect the sex industry. (references)
	Venezuela	The delay is due largely to concern that the law provides penal sanctions against management when violations of health and safety occur and that there is ambiguity in the law over what constitutes a violation. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Speeches: Ambiguity

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Warren G. Harding	1921-1923	Ours is an organic law which had but one ambiguity, and we saw that effaced in a baptism of sacrifice and blood, with union maintained, the Nation supreme, and its concord inspiring.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Ambiguity

"Ambiguity" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Ambiguity" is used about 838 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	838	8,386

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Ambiguity

Expressions using "ambiguity": cone of ambiguity ♦ lexical ambiguity ♦ without ambiguity. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Ambiguity

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
ambiguity	30
ambiguity pictographic	6
ambiguity seven type	4
ambiguity role	4
ambiguity define	3
ambiguity jackson seven shirley type	3
ambiguity example	3
ambiguity dealing	3
ambiguity sexual	3
ambiguity definition	3
ambiguity pragmatic	2
ambiguity perceptual	2
ambiguity linguisti research	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Ambiguity

Language		Translations for "ambiguity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		dykuptimësi. (various references)

Arabic		‏كلمة غامضة, ‏غموض (darkness, equivocation, fuzziness, haziness, mystery, mystification, nebulizer, obscurity, opacity, secret, vagueness, weirdness), ‏التباس (confusion, equivocation). (various references)

Bulgarian		неяснота (confusion, haze, mistiness, opacity, twilight, unclarity), неопределеност (generality), двусмисленост (double entendre, unclarity), двусмислен (ambiguous, dark, double, double meaning, double-barrelled, double-hearted, equivocal, oracular, two-edged, vague), двусмислица (amphibology, double entendre, equivocation, equivoke, equivoque), двусмислие (double meaning). (various references)

Chinese		二义性 (Ambiguities). (various references)

Czech		nejasnost (dimness, faintness, hazy, obscurity, stolidity), dvojznaènost, dvojsmysl. (various references)

Danish		tvetydighed, flertydighed (equivocality). (various references)

Dutch		ambiguïteit (equivocality), dubbelzinnigheid. (various references)

Farsi		نامعلومی (Doubt, Uncertainty), گنگی معنی , سخن مشکوک , ابهام (Fog, Haze, Mist, Obscurity). (various references)

Finnish		ambiguiteetti (equivocality), monituloksisuus, moniselitteisyys, monimerkityksisyys (equivocality). (various references)

French		ambiguïté. (various references)

German		Vieldeutigkeit, Mehrdeutigkeit (equivocality, equivocalness, equivocation), Doppelsinnigkeit. (various references)

Greek		ασάφεια (fuzziness, haziness, uncertainty, vagueness). (various references)

Hebrew		�"ו משמעות (ambiguosity, double entendre). (various references)

Hungarian		kétértelmûség (amphibology), homályosság (blur, dullness, duskiness, haziness, murkiness, nebulosity, obscurity, opacity, tarnish, turbidity). (various references)

Indonesian		arti dua, ambiguitas, kedwiartian. (various references)

Italian		ambiguit� (ambidexterity, equivocality). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		曖昧さ , 多義性 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		たぎせい, あいまいさ. (various references)

Korean		� 매함 (Ambiguities). (various references)

Manx		daa-cheayllaght. (various references)

Pig Latin		ambiguityay

Portuguese		ambiguidade (ambages, amphibology, era). (various references)

Romanian		ambiguitate (ambiguousness, amphibology, equivocation, fishiness), echivoc (ambiguous, doubt, equivocal, equivocation, equivoque, multivocal, quibble, shady, suspicious). (various references)

Russian		двусмысленность (double, double entendre, equivoke, equivoque). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nesigurni, dvoznačnost, dvosmislica, dvosmislenost (double entendre, double meaning, equivoke, equivoque). (various references)

Spanish		ambigüedad (equivocality, equivocalness). (various references)

Swedish		tvetydighet (ambiguousness, double entendre, indecency). (various references)

Turkish		anlam belirsizliği, iki anlamlılık (equivocalness), belirsizlik (dark, doubtfulness, dreaminess, dreariness, drift, dubiousness, equivocalness, fogginess, fuzziness, generality, gloom, haze, haziness, if, incalculability, indefiniteness, indistinctness, laxity, laxness, limbo, suspense, troubled waters, twilight world, twilight zone, uncertainty, vagueness), şüpheli oluş. (various references)

Ukranian		неясність (fog, fogginess, fuzziness, nebulosity, obscureness, obscurity, opacity), двозначність (amphibology, amphiboly, double meaning, equivocation, oracularity), двозначний вислів (amphibology, amphiboly). (various references)

Vietnamese		sự tối nghĩa (ambiguousness), sự nhập nhằng (ambiguousness), sự mơ h�" (ambiguousness), sự không rõ nghĩa sự không rõ r� ng (ambiguousness). (various references)

Welsh		astrusi (confusion), amwysedd. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Ambiguity

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	ambigua, ambiguitate, ambiguum, duplicitas. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Misspellings: Ambiguity

Misspellings
	"Ambiguity" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ambguity, ambigiuity, ambigouity, ambigua, ambiguilty, ambiguit, ambiguite, ambigutiy, ambiguty, ambiquity, ubiguity. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Ambiguity"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "ambiguity" (pronounced a'mbigyuw"utē)
5	-y uw" u t ē	acuity, perpetuity, promiscuity.
4	-uw" u t ē	annuity, congruity, continuity, discontinuity, gratuity, incongruity, ingenuity.
3	-u t ē	ability, abnormality, absurdity, acceptability, accessibility, accountability, acidity, activity, actuality, adaptability, admissibility, adversity, advisability, affinity, affordability, aggressivity, agility, alacrity, alkalinity, amenity, amiability, amity, analyticity, animosity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, applicability, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, availability, banality, barbarity, believability, bestiality, biodiversity, bisexuality, brevity, brutality, calamity, capability, capacity, captivity, causality, cavity, celebrity, centrality, charity, chastity, civility, clarity, collegiality, commodity, commonality, community, comparability, compatibility, complexity, complicity, comprehensibility, conditionality, conductivity, confidentiality, conformity, congeniality, connectivity, constitutionality, convertibility, creativity, credibility, credulity, criminality, criticality, crotchety, culpability, curiosity, cyclicality, debility, deductibility, deformity, deity, deniability, density, dependability, depravity, deputy, desirability, dexterity, dignity, dimensionality, disability, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, docility, domesticity, duality, ductility, duplicity, durability, eccentricity, elasticity, electability, electricity, eligibility, enforceability, enmity, enormity, entity, equality, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, eventuality, exclusivity, expressivity, extraterritoriality, extremity, facility, fallibility, falsity, familiarity, fatality, feasibility, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, fertility, festivity, fidelity, finality, flammability, flexibility, fluidity, formality, fragility, fraternity, frivolity, frugality, functionality, futility, generality, generosity, geniality, gentility, gravity, gullibility, heredity, heterogeneity, heterosexuality, hilarity, homogeneity, homosexuality, hospitality, hostility, humanity, humidity, humility, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illegality, illiquidity, immaturity, immobility, immorality, immortality, immunity, impartiality, impersonality, impossibility, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inability, inaccessibility, inactivity, incapacity, incivility, incompatibility, incredulity, indemnity, indestructibility, indignity, individuality, inequality, inequity, inevitability, infallibility, inferiority, infertility, infidelity, infinity, infirmity, inflexibility, informality, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, instability, instrumentality, insularity, integrity, intensity, invincibility, invisibility, invulnerability, irrationality, irregularity, irresponsibility, irritability, laity, laxity, legality, legibility, lethality, levity, liability, liberality, liquidity, lividity, locality, longevity, majority, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, masculinity, materiality, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, mentality, minority, miscibility, mobility, modality, modernity, monstrosity, morality, morbidity, mortality, motility, multiplicity, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, nativity, necessity, negativity, neutrality, nobility, Nonconformity, nonentity, nonutility, normality, notoriety, nudity, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, oddity, opacity, opportunity, originality, overcapacity, oversensitivity, palatability, parity, partiality, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, permeability, perplexity, personality, perversity, piety, plausibility, plurality, polarity, polity, pomposity, popularity, portability, possibility, posterity, practicality, predictability, principality, priority, probability, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, profitability, progressivity, propensity, proportionality, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, punctuality, purity, quality, quantity, radioactivity, rapidity, rarity, rationality, reactivity, readability, reality, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, reliability, religiosity, respectability, responsibility, retroactivity, rickety, rigidity, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, seasonality, security, selectivity, senility, seniority, sensibility, sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, serendipity, serenity, severity, sexuality, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, solidity, sorority, speciality, specificity, spirituality, spontaneity, stability, sterility, stupidity, subjectivity, suitability, superconductivity, superfluidity, superiority, supermajority, surety, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, technicality, temerity, tenacity, theatricality, timidity, tonality, totality, toxicity, tranquility, transferability, Trinity, triviality, turbidity, ubiquity, unanimity, unavailability, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, universality, university, unpopularity, unpredictability, unreality, unreliability, uppity, utility, validity, vanity, variability, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, venality, veracity, Verity, versatility, viability, vicinity, virginity, virility, virtuosity, viscosity, visibility, vitality, volatility, voracity, vulgarity, vulnerability.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Ambiguity

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-g-i-i-m-t-u-y"
	-3 letters: bigamy, gambit.
	-4 letters: ambit, amity, gamut, iambi, tibia.
	-5 letters: abut, bait, bima, gaby, gait, gamb, gamy, gaum, iamb, magi, maut, mity, tabu, tuba, yagi, yuga.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.