ambiguous Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead
    equivocal.
    • an equivocal statement
    • the polling had a complex and equivocal (or ambiguous) message for potential female candidates
    • the officer's equivocal behavior increased the victim's uneasiness
    • popularity is an equivocal crown
    • an equivocal response to an embarrassing question
  2. adjective having more than one possible meaning
    • ambiguous words
    • frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy
  3. adjective satellite having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns
    • an ambiguous situation with no frame of reference
    • ambiguous inkblots

WordNet

Am*big"u*ous adjective
Etymology
L. ambiguus, fr. ambigere to wander about, waver; amb- + agere to drive.
Definitions
  1. Doubtful or uncertain, particularly in respect to signification; capable of being understood in either of two or more possible senses; equivocal; as, an ambiguous course; an ambiguous expression.
    What have been thy answers? What but dark, Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding? Milton.
    Syn. -- Doubtful; dubious; uncertain; unsettled; indistinct; indeterminate; indefinite. See Equivocal.

Webster 1913