ambiguously

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/æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs.li/

adverb

In an ambiguous manner.

UncommonScrabble 19

Meanings

adverbambiguously (comparative more ambiguously, superlative most ambiguously)

comparative more ambiguously · superlative most ambiguously

  1. In an ambiguous manner.

    "The Stranger" was a dark, comely, youthful man's head, portentously looking out of a dark, shaded ground, and ambiguously smiling.

    1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XXVI. A Walk; a Foreign Portrait; a Sail. And the End.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section I, page 479
    2 more examples

    The bisexual name, such as Marion and Carol (and Evelyn and Vivian in England), is frequently a source of annoyance and embarrassment to the letter writer, who, if he does not know his ambiguously named correspondent personally […]

    1947, Louise Pound, Kemp Malone, Arthur Garfield Kennedy, William Cabell Greet, American Speech

    Such has always been the case: from the vamptastic and scantily clad Theda Bara as Cleopatra (1917) to the milk bath, gold chains, and lesbian dancing of Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross (1932) to the homoerotic bath of Crassus in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960), antiquity has provided an ambiguously liberated outlet for exploring contemporary fascinations – regardless of their historicity.

    2015, Alex McAuley, “16 Gateways to Vice: Drugs and Sex in Rome”, in Monica Cyrino, editor, Rome Season Two: Trial and Triumph, unnumbered page

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbin an ambiguous manner

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂m̥bʰí
  4. Proto-Italic*amβi-
  5. Latinambi-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éǵeti
  8. Proto-Italic*agō
  9. Latinagō
  10. Latinambig(ō)
  11. Latinambiguu
  12. Englishambiguous
  13. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  14. Proto-Germanic*līką
  15. Englishambiguously

From ambiguous + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan ambiguament
  • ambiguamentin an ambiguous manner
Esperanto ambigue
  • ambiguein an ambiguous manner
Greek αμφίσημα
  • αμφίσημα (amfísima)in an ambiguous manner
Italian ambiguamente
  • ambiguamentein an ambiguous manner
Portuguese ambiguamente
  • ambiguamentein an ambiguous manner
Russian двусмы́сленно, нея́сно
  • двусмы́сленно (dvusmýslenno)in an ambiguous manner
  • нея́сно (nejásno)in an ambiguous manner
  • неопределённо (neopredeljónno)in an ambiguous manner
  • неоднозна́чно (neodnoznáčno)in an ambiguous manner
Spanish ambiguamente
  • ambiguamentein an ambiguous manner
Turkish müphem
  • müphemin an ambiguous manner
Cite this entry
APA

ambiguously. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambiguously

MLA

“ambiguously.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambiguously. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ambiguously,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambiguously.

Source: ambiguously on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.