ambiguityn.

Brit.

/ˌambᵻˈɡjuːᵻti/, U.S.

/ˌæmbəˈɡjuədi/

Forms: late Middle English ambiguyte, late Middle English ambyguite, late Middle English ambyguytee (in a late copy), late Middle English anbiguite, late Middle English–1500s ambiguite, late Middle English–1500s ambiguitee, late Middle English–1500s ambyguyte, 1500s–1600s ambiguitie, 1500s– ambiguity; also Scottish pre-1700 ambiguite, pre-1700 ambiguitie.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French ambeguité; Latin ambiguitat-, ambiguitas.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman ambeguité, Anglo-Norman and Middle French ambiguité (French ambiguité ) doubt, uncertainty (1270 in Old French), fact or quality of being ambiguous (1396 or earlier), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin ambiguitat-, ambiguitas capability of being understood in two or more ways, ambiguousness, equivocal expression, in post-classical Latin also hesitation, doubt (5th cent.) < ambiguus (see ambiguous adj.) + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix).Compare Old Occitan ambiguitatz (14th cent. in an isolated attestation), Catalan ambigüitat (1333), Spanish ambiguidad (1490), Italian ambiguità (c1342).

a. Originally and chiefly with reference to language: the fact or quality of having different possible meanings; capacity for being interpreted in more than one way; (also) lack of specificity or exactness.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > [noun]

ambiguitya1325

doublenessa1513

ambiguousness1542

double meaning1551

indifferency1596

equivocacy1646

equivocalness1647

ambilogy1656

greyness1663

mealy-mouthedness1697

amphilogy1731

equivocality1735

grey1822

double-edgedness1901

ambivalence1912

ambivalency1912

a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) vii. 32 Ase fram nou forthward, suuch ambiguete sal ben forsmiten ant beo in certein.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 5485 Compendiously I purpose to discryve Gynnyng & ende..Wiþ-outen any ambyguite.

a1475 (a1447) O. Bokenham Mappula Angliae in Englische Studien (1887) 10 14 (MED) To puttyne awey alle ambyguite.

?1545 C. Langton Introd. Phisycke iii. x. f. xci^v We ought to gyue no credit vnto them [sc. dreams], and for the mooste parte, they be full of ambiguitie.

1675 R. Baxter Catholick Theol. i. i. 57 The Schoolmens contention..ariseth from the ambiguity of the word free.

1735 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. V. 26 The general characteristicks of oracles were ambiguity, obscurity, and convertibility.

1811 Eclectic Rev. July 587 A compendious method by which the [algebraic] theorems may be established without ambiguity.

1931 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. i. 1614 If it is necessary to avoid ambiguity, the names of complex radicals may be placed in parenthesis.

2001 D. Crystal Lang. & Internet iv. 112 Lightly punctuated messages..pose few problems of ambiguity.

b. An instance of ambiguity (sense 1a) or uncertain meaning; a doubt; an uncertainty.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > insecure knowledge, uncertainty > questionable state or quality > [noun] > something uncertain

uncertaintya1387

ambiguity1445

moot point1563

measuring cast1631

inconcludency1654

disputablea1657

undefinable1809

tertium quid1826

open question1837

question mark1870

inconclusion1886

disputability1892

borderliner1953

undecidable1965

1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §19. m. 23 Eschewyng of all manere ambiguitees and inconveniences, the whiche shull mowe happyn..be breche of thaire promisses.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 271 That alle ambiguites and dowtes may be removede.

1522 in Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1649) 127 To prevent ambiguities and quarrels, each Prince..shall declare his pretences.

1658 J. Bramhall Consecration Protestant Bishops Justified v. 99 And this was the onely question or ambiguity which was moved.

1762 R. Lowth Short Introd. Eng. Gram. 139 There still remains an ambiguity in the Relatives they, them, which in number and gender are equally applicable to bodies or hands.

a1865 W. R. Hamilton Elem. Quaternions (1866) ii. ii. 243 To remove this ambiguity, we shall suppose that the rotation round the axis of i..is in this case positive.

1970 Smoke Signals Dec. 9 There is an unanswered ambiguity in the proposals that are frequently made [about Aboriginal land rights].

2003 RA Mag. Winter 40/2 The Nabis..used colour and form to express the ambiguities of poetic nuance.

c. A word or phrase that can be interpreted in more than one way; an ambiguous expression.In modern usage beginning to merge with sense 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > [noun] > expression containing

amphibologyc1374

ambagea1413

ambiguity1583

ambiguea1592

amphibole1606

amphiboly1610

equivoque1614

dilogy1656

double entendre1673

amphilogy1731

amphibologism1813

equivocality1830

double entente1895

left-hander1920

1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. xviii. 472 Ambiguities, and indifferences vnto diuerse senses, are better reserued to commentaries and lectures vppon the Scriptures.

1671 J. Dryden Evening's Love iv. 58 Give me your hand, and answer me without Ambages or Ambiguities.

1726 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (1741) xxxix. 204 Plain sense was esteem'd nonsense from the pulpit, which rung with ambiguities and double meanings.

1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island vi. 50 Where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer.

1958 Aspects of Transl. 104 The pre-editor was to remove known ambiguities from the original text.

2010 J. Hiddleston Poststructuralism & Postcoloniality vi. 157 Quoted in a francophone text, the term also figures everything whose meaning the author cannot transfer or mimic perfectly. Djebar's text is full of such ambiguities.

d. Literary Criticism. A nuance which allows for an alternative reading of a piece of language; (as a mass noun) the fact or quality of having one or more such nuances.

ΚΠ

1930 W. Empson Seven Types Ambiguity i. 1 An ambiguity, in ordinary speech, means something very pronounced, and as a rule witty and deceitful. I propose to use the word in an extended sense, and shall think relevant to my subject any consequence of language, however slight, which adds some nuance to the direct statement of prose.

1954 J. D. Scott in Spectator 1 Oct. 399/2 Some of the characteristics of this new Movement of the Fifties—its metaphysical wit, its glittering intellectuality, its rich Empsonian ambiguities.

1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use vii. 172 ‘Ambiguity’ in its current critical sense of the manysidedness of language.

1990 D. Brewer in M. Coyle et al. Encycl. Lit. & Crit. (1991) xv. 242 What philosophy of language do Milton's ambiguities imply?

2007 A. D. Nuttall Shakespeare the Thinker iv. 201 Hamlet is the equivalent in literary art of a Rorschach blot—that is, it is expressly framed for maximum ambiguity so that when onlookers think they are interpreting, they are really only revealing their own natures.

†2. Uncertainty about one's course of action; doubt, hesitation. Also an instance of this: a feeling of uncertainty, a doubt. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > [noun]

studyinglOE

orrathnessc1175

doubta1225

balance1297

were1303

doubtancec1325

unsickernessc1340

wilsomenessa1400

wonda1400

scriple?a1425

ambiguityc1425

diswerec1440

dubitationc1450

variation?1473

incertainty1483

doubting1486

doubtfulness1526

scrupulousness1526

scruple1548

uncertainty1548

disputation1549

irresolution1592

swithering1597

hesitance1601

incertitude1601

unpersuadedness1612

inassurance1614

hesitancy1617

unsettledness1619

hesitation1622

unsatisfaction1643

unsatisfiedness1646

dubitancy1649

insecurity1649

dispersuasion1653

unassuredness1660

scrupling1665

unconfidencea1670

swither1719

dubietyc1750

mank1808

suspense1816

dubitating1837

doubtingness1840

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 6192 Þe tresoun hidde he koude nat aduerte..Havynge no drede nor ambyguyte In his entent, nor suspecioun.

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) i. l. 3322 (MED) Appollo..yaff answeris..Off eueri doute and ambiguite.

?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 160 Hee beganne to stande in great ambiguitee of his saftie.

a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. A3^v Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolue me of all ambiguities.

3. The fact or quality of being difficult to categorize or identify, esp. due to changeable or contradictory qualities or characteristics. Also: something that is difficult to categorize or identify.

ΚΠ

1661 T. Swadlin King Charles his Funeral 41 There is neither Adaxie nor Paradox, neither Absurdity nor Ambiguity in this Character, He [sc. the blessed man] feareth not.

1789 G. Elliot Let. 28 Mar. (1874) I. 288 It was not a supper, but an ambigu... It is supper and dessert both on the table at once, and this makes the ambiguity.

1811 Literary Panorama Feb. 275 If we had been asked while perusing this pamphlet, whether it were a political or a religious discourse? we might have found it difficult to give an explicit answer to the question.—It is both, perhaps: and this ambiguity of character appertains to many of those public addresses on national appointments.

1984 P. A. Cantor Creature & Creator (1985) ii. iv. 106 Mary Shelley..maintains the same moral ambiguity in both characters [sc. Frankenstein and the monster], and in virtually the same proportions.

2014 Afr. News (Nexis) 7 Oct. An African brand could be seen as an ambiguity since Africa is not that homogeneous anyway. West Africa is very different from East Africa or North Africa.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	ambiguity
释义	ambiguityn. Brit. /ˌambᵻˈɡjuːᵻti/, U.S. /ˌæmbəˈɡjuədi/ Forms: late Middle English ambiguyte, late Middle English ambyguite, late Middle English ambyguytee (in a late copy), late Middle English anbiguite, late Middle English–1500s ambiguite, late Middle English–1500s ambiguitee, late Middle English–1500s ambyguyte, 1500s–1600s ambiguitie, 1500s– ambiguity; also Scottish pre-1700 ambiguite, pre-1700 ambiguitie. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French ambeguité; Latin ambiguitat-, ambiguitas. Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman ambeguité, Anglo-Norman and Middle French ambiguité (French ambiguité ) doubt, uncertainty (1270 in Old French), fact or quality of being ambiguous (1396 or earlier), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin ambiguitat-, ambiguitas capability of being understood in two or more ways, ambiguousness, equivocal expression, in post-classical Latin also hesitation, doubt (5th cent.) < ambiguus (see ambiguous adj.) + -tās (see -ty suffix¹; compare -ity suffix).Compare Old Occitan ambiguitatz (14th cent. in an isolated attestation), Catalan ambigüitat (1333), Spanish ambiguidad (1490), Italian ambiguità (c1342). 1. a. Originally and chiefly with reference to language: the fact or quality of having different possible meanings; capacity for being interpreted in more than one way; (also) lack of specificity or exactness. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > [noun] ambiguitya1325 doublenessa1513 ambiguousness1542 double meaning1551 indifferency1596 equivocacy1646 equivocalness1647 ambilogy1656 greyness1663 mealy-mouthedness1697 amphilogy1731 equivocality1735 grey1822 double-edgedness1901 ambivalence1912 ambivalency1912 a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) vii. 32 Ase fram nou forthward, suuch ambiguete sal ben forsmiten ant beo in certein. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 5485 Compendiously I purpose to discryve Gynnyng & ende..Wiþ-outen any ambyguite. a1475 (a1447) O. Bokenham Mappula Angliae in Englische Studien (1887) 10 14 (MED) To puttyne awey alle ambyguite. ?1545 C. Langton Introd. Phisycke iii. x. f. xci^v We ought to gyue no credit vnto them [sc. dreams], and for the mooste parte, they be full of ambiguitie. 1675 R. Baxter Catholick Theol. i. i. 57 The Schoolmens contention..ariseth from the ambiguity of the word free. 1735 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. V. 26 The general characteristicks of oracles were ambiguity, obscurity, and convertibility. 1811 Eclectic Rev. July 587 A compendious method by which the [algebraic] theorems may be established without ambiguity. 1931 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. i. 1614 If it is necessary to avoid ambiguity, the names of complex radicals may be placed in parenthesis. 2001 D. Crystal Lang. & Internet iv. 112 Lightly punctuated messages..pose few problems of ambiguity. b. An instance of ambiguity (sense 1a) or uncertain meaning; a doubt; an uncertainty. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > insecure knowledge, uncertainty > questionable state or quality > [noun] > something uncertain uncertaintya1387 ambiguity1445 moot point1563 measuring cast1631 inconcludency1654 disputablea1657 undefinable1809 tertium quid1826 open question1837 question mark1870 inconclusion1886 disputability1892 borderliner1953 undecidable1965 1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §19. m. 23 Eschewyng of all manere ambiguitees and inconveniences, the whiche shull mowe happyn..be breche of thaire promisses. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 271 That alle ambiguites and dowtes may be removede. 1522 in Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1649) 127 To prevent ambiguities and quarrels, each Prince..shall declare his pretences. 1658 J. Bramhall Consecration Protestant Bishops Justified v. 99 And this was the onely question or ambiguity which was moved. 1762 R. Lowth Short Introd. Eng. Gram. 139 There still remains an ambiguity in the Relatives they, them, which in number and gender are equally applicable to bodies or hands. a1865 W. R. Hamilton Elem. Quaternions (1866) ii. ii. 243 To remove this ambiguity, we shall suppose that the rotation round the axis of i..is in this case positive. 1970 Smoke Signals Dec. 9 There is an unanswered ambiguity in the proposals that are frequently made [about Aboriginal land rights]. 2003 RA Mag. Winter 40/2 The Nabis..used colour and form to express the ambiguities of poetic nuance. c. A word or phrase that can be interpreted in more than one way; an ambiguous expression.In modern usage beginning to merge with sense 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > [noun] > expression containing amphibologyc1374 ambagea1413 ambiguity1583 ambiguea1592 amphibole1606 amphiboly1610 equivoque1614 dilogy1656 double entendre1673 amphilogy1731 amphibologism1813 equivocality1830 double entente1895 left-hander1920 1583 W. Fulke Def. Transl. Script. xviii. 472 Ambiguities, and indifferences vnto diuerse senses, are better reserued to commentaries and lectures vppon the Scriptures. 1671 J. Dryden Evening's Love iv. 58 Give me your hand, and answer me without Ambages or Ambiguities. 1726 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius (1741) xxxix. 204 Plain sense was esteem'd nonsense from the pulpit, which rung with ambiguities and double meanings. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island vi. 50 Where he feared an ambiguity, you see he added something clearer. 1958 Aspects of Transl. 104 The pre-editor was to remove known ambiguities from the original text. 2010 J. Hiddleston Poststructuralism & Postcoloniality vi. 157 Quoted in a francophone text, the term also figures everything whose meaning the author cannot transfer or mimic perfectly. Djebar's text is full of such ambiguities. d. Literary Criticism. A nuance which allows for an alternative reading of a piece of language; (as a mass noun) the fact or quality of having one or more such nuances. ΚΠ 1930 W. Empson Seven Types Ambiguity i. 1 An ambiguity, in ordinary speech, means something very pronounced, and as a rule witty and deceitful. I propose to use the word in an extended sense, and shall think relevant to my subject any consequence of language, however slight, which adds some nuance to the direct statement of prose. 1954 J. D. Scott in Spectator 1 Oct. 399/2 Some of the characteristics of this new Movement of the Fifties—its metaphysical wit, its glittering intellectuality, its rich Empsonian ambiguities. 1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use vii. 172 ‘Ambiguity’ in its current critical sense of the manysidedness of language. 1990 D. Brewer in M. Coyle et al. Encycl. Lit. & Crit. (1991) xv. 242 What philosophy of language do Milton's ambiguities imply? 2007 A. D. Nuttall Shakespeare the Thinker iv. 201 Hamlet is the equivalent in literary art of a Rorschach blot—that is, it is expressly framed for maximum ambiguity so that when onlookers think they are interpreting, they are really only revealing their own natures. †2. Uncertainty about one's course of action; doubt, hesitation. Also an instance of this: a feeling of uncertainty, a doubt. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > [noun] studyinglOE orrathnessc1175 doubta1225 balance1297 were1303 doubtancec1325 unsickernessc1340 wilsomenessa1400 wonda1400 scriple?a1425 ambiguityc1425 diswerec1440 dubitationc1450 variation?1473 incertainty1483 doubting1486 doubtfulness1526 scrupulousness1526 scruple1548 uncertainty1548 disputation1549 irresolution1592 swithering1597 hesitance1601 incertitude1601 unpersuadedness1612 inassurance1614 hesitancy1617 unsettledness1619 hesitation1622 unsatisfaction1643 unsatisfiedness1646 dubitancy1649 insecurity1649 dispersuasion1653 unassuredness1660 scrupling1665 unconfidencea1670 swither1719 dubietyc1750 mank1808 suspense1816 dubitating1837 doubtingness1840 c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 6192 Þe tresoun hidde he koude nat aduerte..Havynge no drede nor ambyguyte In his entent, nor suspecioun. a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) i. l. 3322 (MED) Appollo..yaff answeris..Off eueri doute and ambiguite. ?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 160 Hee beganne to stande in great ambiguitee of his saftie. a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. A3^v Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolue me of all ambiguities. 3. The fact or quality of being difficult to categorize or identify, esp. due to changeable or contradictory qualities or characteristics. Also: something that is difficult to categorize or identify. ΚΠ 1661 T. Swadlin King Charles his Funeral 41 There is neither Adaxie nor Paradox, neither Absurdity nor Ambiguity in this Character, He [sc. the blessed man] feareth not. 1789 G. Elliot Let. 28 Mar. (1874) I. 288 It was not a supper, but an ambigu... It is supper and dessert both on the table at once, and this makes the ambiguity. 1811 Literary Panorama Feb. 275 If we had been asked while perusing this pamphlet, whether it were a political or a religious discourse? we might have found it difficult to give an explicit answer to the question.—It is both, perhaps: and this ambiguity of character appertains to many of those public addresses on national appointments. 1984 P. A. Cantor Creature & Creator (1985) ii. iv. 106 Mary Shelley..maintains the same moral ambiguity in both characters [sc. Frankenstein and the monster], and in virtually the same proportions. 2014 Afr. News (Nexis) 7 Oct. An African brand could be seen as an ambiguity since Africa is not that homogeneous anyway. West Africa is very different from East Africa or North Africa. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.a1325
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