ambiguous

Everyday

1. Ambiguous means having more than one possible meaning, so it is unclear which one is meant. tree →
2. Ambiguous can mean uncertain or not clearly decided. tree →

In the lessons

In English lessons ambiguous sentences are a classic puzzle: «I saw the man with the telescope» (who had the telescope?). Clear writing avoids ambiguity with careful word order and commas. In maths, a question is ambiguous if it can be read in two ways, so mathematicians use brackets. Phrases: an ambiguous sentence, an ambiguous answer, ambiguous ending.

Examples

• «Let's eat, Grandma» and «Let's eat Grandma» show how a comma removes ambiguous meaning. tree →
• The sign «Slow children» is ambiguous! tree →
• Her answer was ambiguous: I couldn't tell if it was yes or no. tree →
• The story has an ambiguous ending, so readers argue about what happened. tree →
• Is 6 − 2 + 1 ambiguous? Brackets make it clear. tree →
• «I saw her duck» is ambiguous: a bird or a movement? tree →
• The rules of the game were ambiguous, so we argued. tree →
• Interpreting this ambiguous reply to signify the third summer, Hyllus controlled his impatience for three years, when, having collected a powerful army, he once more entered the Peloponnesus. tree →

Note

Noun: ambiguity (plural ambiguities). Pronounced am-BIG-yoo-us. Do not confuse with «ambivalent» (having mixed feelings). In maths, 2 + 3 × 4 is NOT ambiguous because of the order of operations: it is 14.