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# ambiguous

adjective (ambiguous, more ambiguous, most ambiguous)

«ambiguous» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Ambiguous means having more than one possible meaning, so it is unclear which one is meant. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#m1)
2. Ambiguous can mean uncertain or not clearly decided. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#m2)

### In the lessons

In English lessons ambiguous sentences are a classic puzzle: «I saw the man with the telescope» (who had the telescope?). Clear writing avoids ambiguity with careful word order and commas. In maths, a question is ambiguous if it can be read in two ways, so mathematicians use brackets. Phrases: an ambiguous sentence, an ambiguous answer, ambiguous ending.

### Examples

- «Let's eat, Grandma» and «Let's eat Grandma» show how a comma removes ambiguous meaning. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x1)
- The sign «Slow children» is ambiguous! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x2)
- Her answer was ambiguous: I couldn't tell if it was yes or no. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x3)
- The story has an ambiguous ending, so readers argue about what happened. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x4)
- Is 6 − 2 + 1 ambiguous? Brackets make it clear. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x5)
- «I saw her duck» is ambiguous: a bird or a movement? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x6)
- The rules of the game were ambiguous, so we argued. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x7)
- Interpreting this ambiguous reply to signify the third summer, Hyllus controlled his impatience for three years, when, having collected a powerful army, he once more entered the Peloponnesus. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/#x8)

### Note

Noun: ambiguity (plural ambiguities). Pronounced am-BIG-yoo-us. Do not confuse with «ambivalent» (having mixed feelings). In maths, 2 + 3 × 4 is NOT ambiguous because of the order of operations: it is 14.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «ambiguous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/ambiguous/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«ambiguous» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ambiguous.html) on Mova free.