ambiguous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ambiguus (“undecided, doubtful, wavering; having more than one meaning”) with the suffix -ous,^[2][3][4] from ambigō (“to wander about; to waver, be in doubt; to dispute”),^[2][5][6][7] from ambi- (“around, about”) and agō (“to drive, lead, act”).^[5][8][4][6] Etymonline traces these to Proto-Indo-European *ambhi- (“around”) and Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive”).^[5] Ayto sums up the notion as wandering around uncertainly.^[9] The OED compares Middle French ambigu (1405), Catalan ambigu (1457), Spanish ambiguo (1490) and Italian ambiguo (before 1294).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of language, open to more than one interpretation: about 1487, in John Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus.^[2] Etymonline and Ayto credit the first use to Sir Thomas More (1528),^[5][9] and the Oxford Dictionary of English gives the first sense as "indistinct, obscure".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin adjective already covered both doubt and double meaning, and the English word took over both.^[2] From 1529 to about 1640 it could mean simply "not known or decided, uncertain", while from 1550 it could describe a hesitating, wavering person; both uses are obsolete.^[2] The sense "not clearly defined, indistinct" is recorded from 1551,^[2][10] and the sense from 1603, in Florio's Montaigne, "hard to classify, having contradictory features".^[2] In 1759 Burke used it for "unreliable".^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "doubtful; having two meanings; of uncertain signification".^[11] The noun ambiguity is older, from about 1400.^[5][4]

Timeline

• c. 1487 – of language, having more than one possible meaning.^[2]
• 1528 – used by Thomas More.^[5][9]
• 1529 – undecided, uncertain (obsolete by 1642).^[2]
• 1551 – indistinct, imprecise.^[2]
• 1560 – of a person, speaking in words that can be read more than one way.^[2]
• 1603 – hard to classify.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Open to more than one interpretation; having two or more possible meanings: The contract's ambiguous wording led to a lawsuit.^[12][6][2]
2. Doubtful or uncertain, especially because unclear or indistinct: an ambiguous shade of green.^[6][2]
3. Difficult to understand or classify; obscure.^[12][2]

Word family

• ambiguously
• ambiguousness

Related words

• ambages
• ambiguity
• unambiguous
• ambidextrous
• act
• agent

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary distinguishes ambiguous, which implies two or more possible meanings, from near-synonyms such as equivocal, obscure and vague.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin