Equivocal

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Equivocal \E*quiv"o*cal\, a. [L. aequivocus: aequus equal + vox,
     vocis, word. See {Equal}, and {Voice}, and cf. {Equivoque}.]
     1. (Literally, called equally one thing or the other; hence:)
        Having two significations equally applicable; capable of
        double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous;
        uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or
              equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned
              eyes.                                 --Jeffrey.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of
        signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters;
        deserving to be suspected; as, his actions are equivocal.
        "Equivocal repentances." --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful. "How
        equivocal a test." --Burke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Equivocal chord} (Mus.), a chord which can be resolved into
        several distinct keys; one whose intervals, being all
        minor thirds, do not clearly indicate its fundamental tone
        or root; the chord of the diminished triad, and the
        diminished seventh.
  
     Syn: Ambiguous; doubtful; uncertain; indeterminate.
  
     Usage: {Equivocal}, {Ambiguous}. We call an expression
            ambiguous when it has one general meaning, and yet
            contains certain words which may be taken in two
            different senses; or certain clauses which can be so
            connected with other clauses as to divide the mind
            between different views of part of the meaning
            intended. We call an expression equivocal when, taken
            as a whole, it conveys a given thought with perfect
            clearness and propriety, and also another thought with
            equal propriety and clearness. Such were the responses
            often given by the Delphic oracle; as that to
            Cr[oe]sus when consulting about a war with Persia: "If
            you cross the Halys, you will destroy a great empire."
            This he applied to the Persian empire, which lay
            beyond that river, and, having crossed, destroyed his
            own empire in the conflict. What is ambiguous is a
            mere blunder of language; what is equivocal is usually
            intended to deceive, though it may occur at times from
            mere inadvertence. Equivocation is applied only to
            cases where there is a design to deceive.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Equivocal \E*quiv"o*cal\, n.
     A word or expression capable of different meanings; an
     ambiguous term; an equivoque.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           In languages of great ductility, equivocals like that
           just referred to are rarely found.       --Fitzed.
                                                    Hall.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  equivocal
       adj 1: open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature
              or significance; or (often) intended to mislead; "an
              equivocal statement"; "the polling had a complex and
              equivocal (or ambiguous) message for potential female
              candidates"; "the officer's equivocal behavior
              increased the victim's uneasiness"; "popularity is an
              equivocal crown"; "an equivocal response to an
              embarrassing question" [syn: {ambiguous}] [ant: {unequivocal}]
       2: open to question; "aliens of equivocal loyalty"; "his
          conscience reproached him with the equivocal character of
          the union into which he had forced his son"-Anna Jameson
       3: uncertain as a sign or indication; "the evidence from
          bacteriologic analysis was equivocal"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  127 Moby Thesaurus words for "equivocal":
     agnostic, amalgamated, ambagious, ambiguous, ambivalent,
     amphibious, amphibolic, amphibological, amphibolous, antinomic,
     blended, borderline, capricious, chancy, changeable,
     circumlocutory, clear as mud, clouded, combined, complex,
     composite, compound, compounded, conglomerate, dappled, dicey,
     dishonest, disreputable, doubtful, doubting, dubious, duplicitous,
     eclectic, enigmatic, enigmatical, equivocatory, erratic, evasive,
     fickle, fifty-fifty, fishy, forsworn, half-and-half, hazy, hedging,
     hesitant, hesitating, heterogeneous, incalculable, indecisive,
     indefinite, indemonstrable, indeterminate, indiscriminate,
     indistinct, intricate, ironic, irresolute, jumbled, lying,
     many-sided, medley, mendacious, mingled, miscellaneous, misleading,
     mixed, motley, multifaceted, multinational, multiracial,
     multivocal, mysterious, oblique, obscure, open, open to question,
     oxymoronic, paradoxical, patchy, perjured, perplexing, pluralistic,
     polysemantic, polysemous, prevaricating, problematic, promiscuous,
     puzzling, questionable, roundabout, scrambled, self-contradictory,
     skeptical, suspect, suspicious, syncretic, tenebrous, tergiversant,
     tergiversating, thrown together, touch-and-go, truthless,
     unaccountable, uncertain, unclear, unconfirmable, unconvinced,
     undecided, undivinable, unforeseeable, unintelligible, unpersuaded,
     unpredictable, unprovable, unsure, untruthful, unveracious,
     unverifiable, vague, variable, varied, waffling, wavering,
     weasel-worded, whimsical, wishy-washy