incertitude

noun

in·​cer·​ti·​tude (ˌ)in-ˈsər-tə-ˌtüd 

-ˌtyüd

: uncertainty:

a

: absence of assurance or confidence : doubt

b

: the quality or state of being unstable or insecure

Synonyms

• distrust
• distrustfulness
• doubt
• dubiety
• dubitation [archaic]
• misdoubt
• misgiving
• mistrust
• mistrustfulness
• query
• reservation
• skepticism
• suspicion
• uncertainty

Examples of incertitude in a Sentence

a growing incertitude about the honesty of the housekeeper they had just hired

Recent Examples on the Web

And yet the actor spent much of a recent conversation candidly admitting to ambivalence and incertitude. —New York Times, 27 May 2021

In an offseason of inactivity and incertitude, Bloom’s marquee move will be hiring a new manager. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Jan. 2020

But underneath the skepticism, something else nagged at me: the sense that my incertitude was a metastasis of our jittery, gaslit world, where baseline reality is increasingly in dispute. —New York Times, 27 Aug. 2019

The difficulty for me in pinning the city down geographically is reflected in a broader ideological incertitude; a current questioning of the state’s identity and place. —Marley Marius, Vogue, 23 Nov. 2018

Like him, these TPS recipients will now how to live in incertitude. —Fabienne Josaphat, Teen Vogue, 11 Dec. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin incertitudo, from Latin in- + Late Latin certitudo certitude

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

incertitude

noun

in·​cer·​ti·​tude (ˈ)in-ˈsərt-ə-ˌt(y)üd 

: uncertainty