ambiguity

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“
This ambiguity is a military issue, not a legal one.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation: "leading a life of alleged moral ambiguity” (Anatole Broyard).
  2. noun Something of doubtful meaning: a poem full of ambiguities.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • But the ambiguity is also a function of political disagreement and confusion among Israeli leaders, many argue, which promotes poor coordination of military action and diplomatic aims. —  International Herald Tribune - World News, Analysis, and Global Opinions
  • Yet this ambiguity, which is not incidental to Dostoevsky's vision, but only most obvious in the comical sense, does not make light of suffering. —  A Guy's Moleskine Notebook
  • Paulson admitted in his speech this morning that the ambiguity was a big problem.
  • This sense of precise ambiguity is abetted by Stith's strong sense of atmospherics: His arrangements are full-bodied but spacious, with the multi-tracked vocals occasionally hidden in the ethereal, heavily layered music. —  Paste Magazine
  • In a rare breach of official American adherence to Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, the U.S. military is terming Israel "a nuclear power" on a par with Russia, China, India, —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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ambiguity:   ambiguities
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English ambiguite (rare), from Latin ambiguita(t-)s, from ambiguus: see ambiguous.
 

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/æmbɪˈgjuəti/
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