Word Meanings - EQUIVOCAL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence. For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature

Additional info about word: EQUIVOCAL

1. Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence. For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes. Jeffrey. 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. 3. Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful. "How equivocal a test." Burke. Equivocal chord , 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. -- 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 Crambiguous 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.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of EQUIVOCAL)

• Ambiguous
• Equivocal
• vague
• doubtful
• enigmatical
• uncertain
• obscure
• unintelligible
• perplexing
• indistinct
• dubious
• Vague
• General
• lax
• indefinite
• undetermined
• popular
• intangible
• equivocal
• unsettled
• ill-defined
• pointless

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of EQUIVOCAL)

• Reveal
• make known
• discover

Related words: (words related to EQUIVOCAL)

• POPULARIZATION
  The act of making popular, or of introducing among the people.
• DUBIOUSNESS
  State of being dubious.
• OBSCURENESS
  Obscurity. Bp. Hall.
• OBSCURER
  One who, or that which, obscures.
• GENERALIZED
  Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.
• GENERALIZABLE
  Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule. Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable. Coleridge
• INDISTINCTION
  Want of distinction or distinguishableness; confusion; uncertainty; indiscrimination. The indistinction of many of the same name . . . hath made some doubt. Sir T. Browne. An indistinction of all persons, or equality of all orders, is far from being
• DOUBTFULLY
  In a doubtful manner. Nor did the goddess doubtfully declare. Dryden.
• POINTLESSLY
  Without point.
• DISCOVERTURE
  A state of being released from coverture; freedom of a woman from the coverture of a husband. (more info) 1. Discovery.
• GENERALTY
  Generality. Sir M. Hale.
• UNDETERMINABLE
  Not determinable; indeterminable. Locke.
• UNCERTAINTY
  1. The quality or state of being uncertain. 2. That which is uncertain; something unknown. Our shepherd's case is every man's case that quits a moral certainty for an uncertainty. L'Estrange.
• PERPLEX
  1. To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our
• VAGUELY
  In a vague manner. What he vaguely hinted at, but dared not speak. Hawthorne.
• DISCOVERABLE
  Capable of being discovered, found out, or perceived; as, many minute animals are discoverable only by the help of the microscope; truths discoverable by human industry.
• DISCOVERY
  1. The action of discovering; exposure to view; laying open; showing; as, the discovery of a plot. 2. A making known; revelation; disclosure; as, a bankrupt is bound to make a full discovery of his assets. In the clear discoveries of the next
• DISCOVERER
  1. One who discovers; one who first comes to the knowledge of something; one who discovers an unknown country, or a new principle, truth, or fact. The discoverers and searchers of the land. Sir W. Raleigh. 2. A scout; an explorer. Shak.
• INTANGIBLE
  Not tangible; incapable of being touched; not perceptible to the touch; impalpable; imperceptible. Bp. Wilkins. A corporation is an artificial, invisible, intangible being. Marshall. -- In*tan"gi*ble*ness, n. -- In*tan"gi*bly, adv.
• UNCERTAINLY
  In an uncertain manner.
• MAJOR GENERAL
  . An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
• UNPERPLEX
  To free from perplexity. Donne.
• ENIGMATIC; ENIGMATICAL
  Relating to or resembling an enigma; not easily explained or accounted for; darkly expressed; obscure; puzzling; as, an enigmatical answer.
• SUBOBSCURELY
  Somewhat obscurely or darkly. Donne.
• UNEQUIVOCAL
  Not equivocal; not doubtful; not ambiguous; evident; sincere; plain; as, unequivocal evidence; unequivocal words. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ly, adv. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ness, n.