Word of the Day

: September 5, 2023

ambiguous

adjective am-BIG-yuh-wus

What It Means

To describe something as ambiguous is to say that it can be understood in more than one way or that it has more than one possible meaning.

// We were confused by the ambiguous wording of his message.

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ambiguous in Context

“There are a lot of reasons for medical errors: inexperienced caregivers; ambiguous symptoms; understaffed hospitals, underlying conditions.” — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 26 July 2023

Did You Know?

Ambiguous may highlight the vague and obscure, but its origins are as clear as a bell. This word comes from the Latin verb ambigō or ambigere, meaning “to be undecided; to dispute,” which in turn combines amb- (“on both sides”) with agere (“to be in motion”). Ambi- is a prefix to many English words denoting two or more options, such as ambivalent, ambidextrous, and ambient. Similar prefixes include bi- (as in bicentennial), di- (as in dialect), and multi- (as in multiverse).