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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead; ambiguous. See Synonyms at ambiguous.
  2. adj. Of uncertain significance.
  3. adj. Of a doubtful or uncertain nature.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Being of doubtful signification; capable of being understood in different senses; ambiguous; doubtful: as, an equivocal word, term, or sense; an equivocal answer.
  2. Of doubtful quality, origin, or significance; capable of being ascribed to different motives or causes; suspicious; dubious: as, an equivocal character; equivocal relations; an equivocal reputation.
  3. Equivocating.
  4. Synonyms Doubtful, Ambiguous, etc. (see obscure, a.); indeterminate.
  5. n. A word or term of doubtful meaning, or capable of different interpretations.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque.
  2. adj. Having two or more significations equally applicable; capable of double or multiple interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence.
  3. adj. Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected; as, his actions are equivocal.
  4. adj. Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful, incongruous.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. (Literally, called equally one thing or the other; hence:) Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain.
  2. adj. Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected.
  3. adj. Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful.
  4. n. A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. open to question
  2. adj. uncertain as a sign or indication
  3. adj. open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead

Etymologies

  1. From Late Latin aequivocus : Latin aequi-, equi- + Latin vocāre, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “It seems like modern games require certain equivocal traits in order to be considered "good".”

    Simplicity's Bad?

  • “Men lifted an eyebrow and called it "equivocal" -- to use the phrase of”

    Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers

  • “Accordingly, they sometimes put down their thoughts in bits, in short, equivocal, and paradoxical sentences which appear to mean much more than they say (a splendid example of this kind of writing is furnished by Schelling’s treatises on”

    Essays of Schopenhauer

  • “Accordingly, they sometimes put down their thoughts in bits, in short, equivocal, and paradoxical sentences which appear to mean much more than they say (a splendid example of this kind of writing is furnished by Schelling's treatises on”

    Essays of Schopenhauer

  • “Suppose those terms equivocal, and to be taken in one sense by him, and by them in another, and nothing can be rightly concluded from what is spoken of them.”

    The Doctrine of Justification by Faith

  • “But, without passing into the sphere of ethics, there are two cases — known as the equivocal right of equity and necessity — which claim a juridical decision, yet for which no one can be found to give such a decision, and which, as regards their relation to rights, belong, as it were, to the”

    The Science of Right

  • “The results, described as equivocal, indicate that at the current state of research, meditation can be at best considered an adjunctive therapy when it comes to treating anxiety and mood disorders - most studies failed to demonstrate it as a reliable primary method of treating these conditions.”

    Brain Blogger

  • “And so there is this kind of equivocal issue of how to interpret it.”

    NPR: Gettysburg, Ground Zero: Secular Sacred Spaces

  • “One source indicated that at least two of the earlier drafts were "equivocal" and "nuanced" -- but noted over time they became "more advocative" of the views of then-Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the Bush administration that aggressive interrogation techniques were necessary to prevent new terror attacks.”

    Murray Waas: Torture Memo Author Advocated Presidential Pardons, Jury Nullification

  • “Adorno shows, in typically dialectical fashion, how "equivocal" — that is his word — the key terms in question are (Adorno, 741).”

    Subjecticity (On Kant and the Texture of Romanticism)

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‘equivocal’ has been looked up 3999 times, loved by 12 people, added to 73 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 23.