ambiguous

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

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🗓️ 5 September 2023

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

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.

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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).

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merriam Webster's Word of the Day for September 5th.
0:11.3	Today's word is ambiguous, spelled A-M-B-I-G-U-O-U-S.
0:18.1	Ambiguous is an adjective.
0:20.0	To describe something as ambiguous is to say that it can be understood in more than one
0:24.1	way or that it has more than one possible meaning.
0:27.6	Here's the word used.
0:29.2	In a sentence from time by Jeffrey Kluger, there are a lot of reasons for medical errors
0:35.4	in experienced caregivers, ambiguous symptoms, understaffed hospitals, underlying conditions.
0:42.8	The word ambiguous may highlight the vague and obscure, but its origins are clear as a bell.
0:48.9	This word comes from the Latin verb ambigo or ambigare meaning to be undecided to dispute,
0:56.1	which in turn combines amb A-M-B, meaning on both sides, with agare meaning to be in motion.
1:03.5	Amb-B is a prefix to many English words denoting two or more opinions, such as ambivalent,
1:09.7	ambidextrous, and ambient.
1:12.8	Similar prefixes include buy as in bicentennial, die as in dialect, and multi as in multiverse.
1:21.2	With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sakalowski.

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