Unambiguous Meaning
/ˌʌnæˈmbɪɡjəwəs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjClear, and having no uncertainty or ambiguity.
Sentence Examples
I admit this isn't an unambiguous answer.
Write clear and unambiguous texts!
The Russian sentence, in contrast to the English one, is unambiguous.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The contract was ____ leaving no room for doubt about each party's obligations.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The instructions for the project were very ____, so there was no room for any confusion or several misunderstandings today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰíder. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Latin ambig(ō) Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Italic *-wos Latin -uus Latin ambiguuslbor. English ambiguous English unambiguous From un- + ambiguous.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"An LR(k) grammar is clearly unambiguous, since the definition implies every derivation tree must have the same handle, and by induction there is only one possible tree. It is interesting to point out furthermore that nearly every grammar which is known to be unambiguous is either an LR(k) grammar, or (dually) is a right-to-left translatable grammar, or is some grammar which is translated using "both ends toward the middle." Thus, the LR(k) condition may be regarded as the most powerful general test for nonambiguity that is now available."
— 1965 July 26, Donald Knuth, “On the Translation of Languages from Left to Right”, in Information and Control, volume 8, pages 639–707:
"At the height of the crisis, according to a retired SAC wing commander, SAC airborne alert bombers deliberately flew past their turnaround points toward Soviet airspace, an unambiguous threat which Soviet radar operators would certainly have recognized and reported. "I knew what my target was," the SAC general adds: "Leningrad." The bombers only turned around when the Soviet freighters carrying missiles to Cuba stopped dead in the Atlantic."
— 1995, Richard Rhodes, “Scorpions in a Bottle”, in Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 575:
"Other editors opposed to Atsme’s edits were just as unambiguous."
— 2024 August 29, Ashley Rindsberg, “How Wikipedia Launders Regime Propaganda”, in Pirate Wires, archived from the original on 29 Aug 2024:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The contract was ____ leaving no room for doubt about each party's obligations.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The instructions for the project were very ____, so there was no room for any confusion or several misunderstandings today.