AMBIGUOUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Ambiguous

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Ambiguous

adjective

Open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead. Synonym: equivocal. "The polling had a complex and equivocal (or ambiguous) message for potential female candidates" , "The officer's equivocal behavior increased the victim's uneasiness" , "Popularity is an equivocal crown" , "An equivocal response to an embarrassing question"

Having more than one possible meaning. "Frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy"

Having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns. "Ambiguous inkblots"

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"Ambiguous" Quotes from Famous Books

... with certain spots Multiform, manifold, and menacing: Then a wind rose behind me. So we met In this old sleepy town at unaware, The man and I. I send thee what is writ. Regard it as a chance, a matter risked To this ambiguous Syrian—he may lose, Or steal, or give it thee with equal good. Jerusalem's repose shall make amends For time this letter wastes, thy time and mine; Till when, once more thy ...

— Robert Browning: How To Know Him • William Lyon Phelps

... style. How remarkably simple and plain! No histories were ever so plainly related as those of the Bible: no precepts were ever so clear, or promises less ambiguous. How wonderfully grand and sublime! Whenever the matter requires it, the ...

— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy

... necessary. If these matters are not specified the contractor has to guess at the probable requirements of the engineer. The authors have known of inspectors demanding from 6 to 9 turns of the materials when specifications were ambiguous. It should also be made clear whether or not the final shoveling into the barrows or carts constitutes a turn, and whether any subsequent shoveling of the concrete into place constitutes a turn. Inspectors and foremen have ...

— Concrete Construction - Methods and Costs • Halbert P. Gillette

... engaged in a variety of feuds, and a party to almost every dark and mysterious transaction which was on foot in that wild and military frontier, required all these precautions for his security. His own ambiguous and doubtful course of policy had increased these dangers; for as he made professions to both parties in the state, and occasionally united more actively with either the one or the other, as chanced best to serve ...

— The Monastery • Sir Walter Scott

... the gentlemen referred to uses the phrase "eternal death," as many do. I wonder what they mean? It is an ambiguous phrase. It might mean endless torment after death; or it might mean annihilation at death; or it might mean annihilation at some future time. It is surely misleading to use a phrase that may have so many meanings. If some definite idea cannot be advanced, I think the effect will ...

— Love's Final Victory • Horatio

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