AMBIGUITY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning

Synonyms:

ambiguity; equivocalness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("ambiguity" is a kind of...):

unclearness (incomprehensibility as a result of not being clear)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ambiguity"):

equivocation; evasiveness; prevarication (intentionally vague or ambiguous)

lexical ambiguity; polysemy (the ambiguity of an individual word or phrase that can be used (in different contexts) to express two or more different meanings)

no man's land; twilight zone (the ambiguous region between two categories or states or conditions (usually containing some features of both))

Antonym:

unambiguity (clarity achieved by the avoidance of ambiguity)

Derivation:

ambiguous (having more than one possible meaning)

ambiguous (open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("ambiguity" is a kind of...):

expression; locution; saying (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ambiguity"):

loophole (an ambiguity (especially one in the text of a law or contract) that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation)

amphibology; amphiboly (an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., 'they are flying planes' can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planes)

parisology (the use of ambiguous words)

double entendre (an ambiguity with one interpretation that is indelicate)