noun · neutral
ambiguity
/ˌæmbɪˈɡjuːəti/am·bi·GU·i·ty
the quality of being open to more than one interpretation or having unclear meaning
Examples
“The ambiguity in the question confused many candidates.”
“Ambiguity in legal texts can lead to disputes.”
“Writers should avoid ambiguity when they want to be persuasive.”
Band 8 sentence
“Policy documents often contain deliberate ambiguity, which allows officials to interpret rules flexibly.”
Collocations
- ambiguity in
- clear up ambiguity
- linguistic ambiguity
Word family
Common mistakes
The instruction is ambiguous that we cannot answer.→The instruction is so ambiguous that we cannot answer.
There is ambiguous in the sentence.→There is ambiguity in the sentence.
Say it for a higher band
5unclear→6vague→7+ambiguity
Synonyms
vagueness
Easily confused
vagueness
“The vagueness of the instructions led to different interpretations.”
Related words
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In -ity
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