The quality or state of being ambiguous; doubtfulness or uncertainty, particularly as to the signification of language, arising from its admitting of more than one meaning; an equivocal word or expression. [1913 Webster]

"No shadow of ambiguity can rest upon the course to be pursued." [1913 Webster]

"The words are of single signification, without any ambiguity." [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

ambiguity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a a double meaning which is either deliberate or caused by inexactness of expression. b an example of this.
2 an expression able to be interpreted in more than one way (e.g. dogs must be carried).

Etymology

ME f. OF ambiguit{eacute} or L ambiguitas (as AMBIGUOUS)

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THESAURUS

ambiguity

Janus, ambivalence, amphibologism, amphibology, amphiboly, antinomy, asymmetry, biformity, bifurcation, cavil, conjugation, counterword, dichotomy, disproportion, disproportionateness, dodge, double entendre, double meaning, double-talk, doubleness, doublethink, doubling, dualism, duality, duplexity, duplication, duplicity, equivocacy, equivocal, equivocality, equivocalness, equivocation, equivoque, evasion, haggling, hair-splitting, halving, hedge, heresy, heterodoxy, heterogeneity, impenetrability, imprecision, inapprehensibility, inarticulateness, incognizability, incoherence, incommensurability, incompatibility, incomprehensibility, inconclusiveness, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, indefiniteness, indistinctness, inscrutability, irony, irreconcilability, nonconformability, nonconformity, numinousness, obscurity, oxymoron, pairing, paradox, polarity, polysemant, polysemousness, portmanteau word, pun, quibbling, ramblingness, self-contradiction, shift, squinting construction, subterfuge, tergiversation, twinning, two-facedness, twoness, uncertainty, unconformability, unconformity, unconnectedness, unfathomableness, unintelligibility, unknowability, unorthodoxy, unsearchableness, vagueness, weasel word

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ROGET THESAURUS

ambiguity

Obscurity

N obscurity, involution, hard words, ambiguity, unintelligibleness, vagueness &c, inexactness, what d'ye call 'em, darkness of meaning, obscure, crabbed, involved, confused.

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open 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, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.

Equivocalness

N equivocalness, double meaning, ambiguity, double entente, double entendre, pun, paragram, calembour, quibble, equivoque, anagram, conundrum, play on words, word play, homonym, homonymy, amphiboly, amphibology, ambilogy, ambiloquy, Sphinx, Delphic oracle, equivocation, white lie, mental reservation, paltering, equivocal, ambiguous, amphibolous, homonymous, double-tongued, enigmatical, indeterminate, on the one hand, on the other hand.

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