Ambiguity

Definition

Ambiguity is a state in which the meaning of a phrase, statement, situation, or resolution is not explicitly defined, making for several plausible interpretations. It arises when available information lacks sufficient context or a shared frame, so people cannot reliably determine what the problem is, what matters, what causes what, or what solution would count as correct. As a result, interpretation depends heavily on prior experience, assumptions, and imagination.

Related concepts

A. J. Ayer Abbreviation Accident (fallacy)Accuracy and precision Ad hominem Ad nauseam Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise Affirming a disjunct Affirming the consequent Al Seckel Alciphron (book)Algorithm Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Alternative semantics Ambiguity (disambiguation)Ambiguity (law)Ambiguity tolerance–intolerance Ambiguous (film)Ambiguous grammar Ambiguous image Amphibology An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language Analytic philosophy Anaphora (linguistics)Anecdotal evidence Animistic fallacy Antecedent-contained deletion Anthropology Antithesis Antoine Arnauld Apothecary Appeal to accomplishment Appeal to consequences Appeal to emotion Appeal to fear Appeal to flattery Appeal to loyalty Appeal to motive Appeal to nature Appeal to novelty Appeal to pity Appeal to ridicule Appeal to spite Appeal to the law Appeal to the stone Appeal to tradition Argument Argument from analogy Argument from anecdote Argument from authority Argument from fallacy Argument from incredulity Argument from silence Argument to moderation Argumentum ad baculum Argumentum ad crumenam Argumentum ad lazarum Argumentum ad populum Aristotle Aspect of music Association fallacy Atomic percent Autonomy of syntax Averroes Bank Bank (geography)Base rate fallacy Begging the question Belief Benjamin Lee Whorf Berry paradox Bertrand Russell Bias Binding (linguistics)Bulverism Bystander effect Bytes C++Cant (language)Cataphora Categorial grammar Categorization Caterpillar Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)Causal theory of reference Cherry picking Chomsky hierarchy Christianity Chronological snobbery Chrysippus Circular reasoning Class (philosophy)Claude Lancelot Cliché Coercion (linguistics)Cognitive semantics Coherent states Combinatory categorial grammar Complex question Computational semantics Computer science Concept Conditional sentence Conflation Confucius Conjunction fallacy Conservativity Constructed language Constructivism (philosophy of mathematics)Context (language use)Context set Continental philosophy Continuation Contrastivism Conventionalism Conversational scoreboard Converse accident Correlation does not imply causation Correlative-based fallacies Counterfactuals Cratylism Cratylus Cratylus (dialogue)Credibility Critical thinking Crossover effects Cumulativity (linguistics)DRAM Dasein David Lewis (philosopher)De Arte Combinatoria De dicto and de re De se Decision problem Deconstruction Deductive reasoning Definite description Definiteness Denotation Denying the antecedent Denying the correlative Deontic modality Descriptivist theory of names Dialectic Dialetheism Dimension Dimensionless Diodorus Cronus Direct reference theory Discourse relation Discourse representation theory Disjunction Distributional semantics Donald Davidson (philosopher)Donald Francis Tovey Donkey anaphora Dopant Double-barreled question Double counting (fallacy)Double entendre Downward entailing Dramatism Dynamic semantics Ecological fallacy Edward N. Zalta Edward Sapir Einstein coefficients Electoral district Elliptic integral Epistemic modality Equivocation Essentially contested concept Etymological fallacy Eubulides Evidence Evidentiality Exhaustivity Existential closure Existential fallacy Explanation Explanatory power Exponential integral Exponentiation Expressivism Extension (semantics)F. Scott Fitzgerald Fact Fallacies of illicit transference Fallacy Fallacy of accent Fallacy of composition Fallacy of division Fallacy of exclusive premises Fallacy of four terms Fallacy of relevance Fallacy of the single cause Fallacy of the undistributed middle False attribution False dilemma False equivalence False precision Family resemblance Faultless disagreement Faulty generalization Ferdinand de Saussure Fictionalism Finitism Flag-waving Focus (linguistics)Formal fallacy Formal grammar Formal languages Formal semantics (linguistics)Formal semantics (natural language)Formalism (mathematics)Fortran Frame of reference Franz Boas Free choice inference Fritz Mauthner Function (mathematics)Function application Function iteration Furtive fallacy Fuzzy logic G. E. M. Anscombe G. K. Chesterton Gambler's fallacy Generalized quantifier Generative grammar Genetic fallacy George Berkeley Gilbert Ryle Givenness Glittering generality Glue semantics Golden hammer Gorgias Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottlob Frege Hans-Georg Gadamer Henri Bergson Hermite polynomial Hilary Putnam Homogeneity (linguistics)Hurford disjunction Hyperbolic functions Hypothesis I'm entitled to my opinion Ibn Khaldun Illicit major Illicit minor Impossible cube Impossible object In-group favoritism Inalienable possession Inconsistency Inconsistent system Index of philosophy of language articles Indexicality Indiana Philosophy Ontology Project Inferentialism Informal fallacy Informal logic Inquiry Inquisitive semantics Intension Intensional logic Intersective modifier Intuitionism Invented here Inverse gambler's fallacy Invincible ignorance fallacy Ipse dixit Irradiance Irrelevant conclusion Island mentality J. L. Austin Jaakko Hintikka Jacques Derrida Jean-Paul Sartre Johann Gottfried Herder John Searle (American philosopher)John Tenniel John Wilkins Judaism Lambda calculus Language Language, Truth, and Logic Leading question Leonard Bloomfield Leonardo (journal)Lev Vygotsky Lewis Carroll Lexical semantics Limited Inc Linguistic determinism Linguistic entailment Linguistic relativity Linguistics Linguistics wars List of fallacies List of philosophers of language Loaded language Loaded question Logic Logic translation Logical atomism Logical form Logical form (linguistics)Logicism Loglan Logophoricity Lojban Loki's Wager Ludwig Wittgenstein Luminous intensity M. C. Escher MAPLE Map–territory relation Martin Heidegger Masked-man fallacy Mathematica Mathematical fallacy Mathematical notation Mathematics McNamara fallacy Meaning (linguistics)Meaning postulate Mediated reference theory Mental representation Mereology Metalanguage Metre Metric prefix Metric system Michael Dummett Mirativity Modal scope fallacy Modal subordination Modality (semantics)Monad (functional programming)Mondegreen Montague grammar Moral equivalence Moralistic fallacy Motte-and-bailey fallacy Moving the goalposts Multistable perception Multivalued function Music Music of Africa Mutually exclusive Naming and Necessity Naturalistic fallacy Necker cube Negation Negative conclusion from affirmative premises Nirvana fallacy No true Scotsman Noam Chomsky Nominalism Non-cognitivism Not invented here Noun of address Noun phrase Obfuscation Object (grammar)Occam's razor Of Grammatology On Denoting Opaque context Opinion Optical resolution Overwhelming exception Oxymoron P. F. Strawson Parade of horribles Paradoxicalness Paul Grice Paul Ricœur Paul Tillich Paul Watzlawick Performative utterance Phallogocentrism Pharmacist Pharmacy PhilPapers Philosophical Investigations Philosophical analysis Philosophical logic Philosophical razor Philosophical realism Philosophy Philosophy of information Philosophy of language Phrase Phrase (music)Physics Plato Platonic realism Pleonasm Plural quantification Poisoning the well Polarity item Political philosophy Political science Polymeter Polysemy Polytonality Port-Royal Grammar Possible world Post hoc ergo propter hoc Pragmatics Pragmatism Prefix Premise Presupposition Principle of compositionality Privative adjective Programming language Proof by assertion Proof by example Propaganda Property (philosophy)Proposition Propositional attitudes Propositional calculus Protein domain Protein structure Prudence Psychologist's fallacy Quantificational variability effect Quantifier (logic)Quantifier raising Quantifier shift Quantization (linguistics)Quantum mechanics Quantum optics Question under discussion Questionable cause Quoting out of context Radiance Radiant intensity Rationalization (psychology)Reason Red-baiting Red herring Reductio ad Hitlerum Reference Regression fallacy Reification (fallacy)Relevance Relevance theory Responsive predicate Rhetoric Rhythm Righteous Rigour Rising declarative Rudolf Carnap Rudolf Otto SI prefix Sampling bias Saul Kripke Scalar implicature Scholasticism School of Names Science Scientific journal Scope (formal semantics)Sealioning Secundum quid Segmented discourse representation theory Self-refuting idea Semantic Semantic ambiguity Semantic argument Semantic externalism Semantic holism Semantic parsing Semantics Semantics (logic)Semiotics Sense and reference Sentence (linguistics)Sign (semiotics)Simone de Beauvoir Sinc function Sine function Situation semantics Slippery slope Sloppy identity Slothful induction Social psychology Social science Sociology Socratic method Sorites paradox Special function Special pleading Speech act Spoken language Squiggle operator Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Statement (logic)Straw man Strawson entailment Strict conditional Structural biology Structuralism Subsective modifier Subtrigging Suffix Supervaluationism Supposition theory Suppressed correlative Syllogistic fallacy Symbiosism Symbol Syntactic Syntactic ambiguity Syntax Syntax–semantics interface Telicity Temperature paradox Tense–aspect–mood Tensor Texas sharpshooter fallacy The Four Great Errors Theological noncognitivism Theory Theory of descriptions Theory of language Think of the children Thomas Hobbes Tone policing Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Trigonometric Truth-bearer Truth-conditional semantics Tu quoque Two Dogmas of Empiricism Two wrongs make a right Type shifter Type theory Type theory with records Uncertainty Underdetermination Unity of opposites Universal grinder Use–mention distinction Vagueness Verb phrase Veridicality Verificationism Virtuous circle and vicious circle Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity Weasel word Whataboutism Wilhelm von Humboldt Willard Van Orman Quine Wisdom of repugnance Wishful thinking Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language Wolfram Language Word-sense disambiguation Xunzi (philosopher)Zhuang Zhou

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