摘要: Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 5, 2023 is: ambiguous • \am-BIG-yuh-wus\&nb...
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 5, 2023 is:
ambiguous • \am-BIG-yuh-wus\ • adjective
To describe something as ambiguous is to say that it can be understood in more than one way or that it has more than one possible meaning.
// We were confused by the ambiguous wording of his message.
Examples:
“There are a lot of reasons for medical errors: inexperienced caregivers; ambiguous symptoms; understaffed hospitals, underlying conditions.” — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 26 July 2023
Did you know?
Ambiguous may highlight the vague and obscure, but its origins are as clear as a bell. This word comes from the Latin verb ambigō or ambigere, meaning “to be undecided; to dispute,” which in turn combines amb- (“on both sides”) with agere (“to be in motion”). Ambi- is a prefix to many English words denoting two or more options, such as ambivalent, ambidextrous, and ambient. Similar prefixes include bi- (as in bicentennial), di- (as in dialect), and multi- (as in multiverse).
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