Meanings
present singular third person disambiguates · participle present disambiguating · participle past disambiguated · past disambiguated
- To remove ambiguities from; to make less ambiguous; to clarify or specify which of multiple possibilities applies – e.g., possible meanings of an ambiguous statement – or to invite or require this.
- human sciencesTo distinguish one word or lexical unit (from a different one which has a similar form).
When necessary, the Greek spelling is disambiguated by an appended phonetic transcription.
1967, Language: Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, volume 43, page 6191 more example
The dictionary's traditional “readers” have largely survived this transition, too. They find earlier and better uses of terms which computers can't (in the jargon) disambiguate—distinguish from other similar uses.
2016, John Simpson, The Word Detective, Little, Brown, published 2016, page 281
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
- Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
- Proto-Italic*dis-
- Latindis-
- Old Frenchdes-
- Latindis-
- Middle Englishdis-
- Englishdis-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂m̥bʰí
- Proto-Italic*amβi-
- Latinambi-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂éǵeti
- Proto-Italic*agō
- Latinagō
- Latinambig(ō)
- Latinambiguu
- Englishambigu(ous)
- Englishambiguate
- Englishdisambiguate
Translations
Dutch desambigueren
- desambiguerenremove ambiguities
Esperanto apartigi, disigi
- apartigiremove ambiguities
- disigiremove ambiguities
Finnish yksiselitteistää, yksikäsitteistää
- yksiselitteistääremove ambiguities
- yksikäsitteistääremove ambiguities
French désambiguïser, désambigüiser
- désambiguïserremove ambiguities
- désambigüiserremove ambiguities
German disambiguieren, eindeutig machen
- disambiguierenremove ambiguities
- eindeutig machenremove ambiguities
- vereindeutigenremove ambiguities
Greek αποσαφηνίζω
- αποσαφηνίζω (aposafinízo)remove ambiguities
Hungarian egyértelműsít
- egyértelműsítremove ambiguities
Italian disambiguare
- disambiguareremove ambiguities
Polish ujednoznaczniać, ujednoznacznić
- ujednoznaczniaćremove ambiguities
- ujednoznacznićremove ambiguities
Portuguese desambiguar, desambiguizar
- desambiguarremove ambiguities
- desambiguizarremove ambiguities
- desambigüizarremove ambiguities
Spanish desambiguar
- desambiguarremove ambiguities
Swedish klargöra
- klargöraremove ambiguities
Cite this entry
disambiguate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disambiguate
“disambiguate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disambiguate. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disambiguate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disambiguate.
Source: disambiguate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.