amphibological

comparative more amphibological · superlative most amphibological

1. rareof doubtful meaning, ambiguous, quibbling.

   Eschewing rhetorical obfuscation, he fabricated the perfect anti-amphibological machine!

   1981, Nahin, Paul J., “The Language Clarifier”, in The Best of Omni Science Fiction No.2, Third Avenue, New York: Omni Publications International, page 134

   2 more examples

   If you had gone to Delphos, Apollo would have made you beleeve with his amphibologicall answers, that he could have foretold you all these things.

   1584, Scott, Reginald, edited by Nicholson, Brinsley, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, Reprint of the 1st edition, page 141

   Consequently it must be recognised that the rather amphibological expression "soulless psychology" implies no negation of the existence of the soul.

   1845, Alfred Binet, The Mind and the Brain (Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps) (Chapter IX, Definitions Of Psychology. Project Gutenberg)

2. human sciencesamphibolic, grammatically ambiguous

   the amphibological figure encapsulates two dimensions of the same thought in a situation where the author does not wish to force an either/or choice

   2000, Saeed Hamid-Khani, Revelation and Concealment of Christ: A Theological Inquiry into the Elusive Language of the Fourth Gospel., Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, page 47

   3 more examples

   A man who had accused his neighbor of falsehood, was called on for an apology, which he gave in the following amphibological terms : — "I called you a liar, — it is true. You spoke truth: I have told a lie."

   1836, Smith, Horace, The tin trumpet: or, Heads and tails, for the wise and waggish, page 21

   This amphibological character is also a special case of ambiguity: indeed, an expression is amphibological when it has different meanings at once, that is when it cannot simply have them and can play with them.

   2015, Josep-Maria Terricabras, edited by Rudolf Seising, Enric Trillas, Janusz Kacprzyk, Language, Fuzzy Logic, Metalogic, Cham: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 21–29

   This is a dense paragraph wherein the phrases and expressions used need further elaboration. The very first is amphibological principle. An amphibological phrase or sentence is that which can beinterpreted in two ways: usually because of the grammatical construction rather than the meanings of thewords themselves. For instance, the phrase, “the boy on the chair with a broken leg” is an amphibology.“John is a poor student” too, is amphibology.

   2023, Tahir, Sobia; Maqsood, Sidra, “Ḥassan Ḥanafī’s Interpretation of Qur’an through PhenomenologicalHermeneutics: An Analysis”, in Pakistan Journal of Social Issues, volume XIV, page 135

   Synonyms: amphibolic