Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Open to more than one interpretation.
  • adjective Doubtful or uncertain.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of doubtful or uncertain nature; wanting clearness or definiteness; difficult to comprehend or distinguish; indistinct; obscure.
  • Of doubtful purport; open to various interpretations; having a double meaning; equivocal.
  • Wavering; undecided; hesitating: as, “ambiguous in all their doings,” Milton, Eikono-klastes (1649), p. 239.
  • Using obscure or equivocal language.
  • Synonyms Equivocal, etc. (see obscure), indeterminate, indefinite, indistinct, not clear, not plain, amphibolous, dubious, vague, enigmatical, dark, blind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Doubtful or uncertain, particularly in respect to signification; capable of being understood in either of two or more possible senses; equivocal

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Open to multiple interpretations.
  • adjective Vague and unclear.
  • adjective Of persons: hesitant; uncertain; not taking sides.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead
  • adjective having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns
  • adjective having more than one possible meaning

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin ambiguus, uncertain, from ambigere, to go about : amb-, ambi-, around; see ambi– + agere, to drive; see ag- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ambiguus ("moving from side to side, of doubtful nature"), from ambigere ("to go about, wander, doubt"), from ambi- ("around, about, on both sides") + agere ("to drive, move").

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Examples

Comments

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  • It's just like WeirdNET to have 14 definitions for this word.

    August 3, 2008

  • At least four of which use the word itself....

    August 4, 2008