equivocal

CEFRC2

/əˈkwɪvəkəl/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Having more than one possible meaning; not clear.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

Uncertain, as an indication or sign.
Having two or more equally applicable meanings; capable of double or multiple interpretation.

Extra meaning

In context

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Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes.
1817, William Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
From that position he observed his confederate go through the curious procedure of kneeling down on the bedroom floor and for a full minute pressing his ear to the sheet of metal that had already engaged his attention. Then he rose to his feet, nodded, dusted his trousers, and Mr Carlyle moved to a less equivocal position.
1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
Some equivocals are merely ambiguous. Sharp is an example. It is equivocal since it is appropriate to call different types of things 'sharp' though what it is for them to be sharp differs.
2012, Deborah Achtenberg, Cognition of Value in Aristotle's Ethics

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From Late Latin aequivocus + -al, from aequus + vocō. By surface analysis, equi- + vocal.