(a.) Doubtful or uncertain, particularly in respect to signification; capable of being understood in either of two or more possible senses; equivocal; as, an ambiguous course; an ambiguous expression.
Example Sentences:
(1) Along the spectrum of loyalties lie multiple loyalties and ambiguous loyalties, and the latter, if unresolved, create moral ambiguities.
(2) This examination has proved an important help in the diagnosis of all the cases of sexual ambiguity.
(3) Exogenous activators of PKC stimulate insulin secretion from B cells, but attempts to define a physiological role for PKC by using inhibitors of this enzyme have produced ambiguous results.
(4) The aza analogue (RS)-3-hydroxy-2,5-pyrrolidinedione-3-acetic acid (6) of the five-membered citric anhydride (2) was prepared in the sequence citric acid----2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-one-5,5-diacetic acid (1)----citric acid beta-amide (3)----6 and used to resolve ambiguities in the mechanism of the citrate synthase reaction.
(5) Results obtained with this analog can be ambiguous, since 2-DOG can be phosphorylated by hexokinases of animal cells.
(6) Ultrasound has also proven useful in evaluating patients with ambiguous genitalia, amenorrhea and suspected PID and also is an effective means of localizing intrauterine contraceptive devices.
(7) Authors have previously published April 1988 a lecture where they criticize the bad denomination "passed coma" full of ambiguity for public mind, to which "brain death" ought to be preferred.
(8) There were, though, large omissions and ambiguities that will need to be filled in and clarified as polling day nears.
(9) "Prostatic acid phosphatase" is a term that has been used widely and ambiguously to refer to acid phosphatase, which 1) is elevated in the sera of patients with various diseases of the prostate, 2) is inhibited by one or more specific inhibitors, 3) attacks one or more specific substrates, 4) has certain unique antigenic properties, 5) is extracted from homogenates of prostate, and 6) is obtained from prostate secretions, etc.
(10) We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms this December, and Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is available on PS4.” However, there is still some slight ambiguity about whether the deal is for Winter 2015 only.
(11) This ambiguity was resolved by using resealed ghosts, which are unable to incorporate oleic acid into phospholipids.
(12) This report describes a minicomputer-based translation system (TRANSOFT) that employs word order rearrangement followed by word-for-word translation and resolution of ambiguities based on context.
(13) Authors report a ring chromosome 18 (18 r) in a four year old boy, with low birth weight, retarded growth and development, microcephaly and plagiocephaly, horizontal nystagmus, ambiguous genitalia, clinodactyly of the fifth finger, distal axial triradius, whorls pattern in 8 fingers in dermatoglyphic.
(14) Membrane potential trajectories of 68 bulbar respiratory neurones from the peri-solitary and peri-ambigual areas of the brain-stem were recorded in anaesthetized cats to explore the synaptic influences of post-inspiratory neurones upon the medullary inspiratory network.
(15) As well, two-dimensional 15N-1H heteronuclear spectroscopy was used to resolve a number of ambiguities present in the homonuclear spectra due to resonance redundancies.
(16) The axon of the labeled bulbospinal neuron had axonal collaterals which were distributed within the region of the nucleus ambiguous of the ipsilateral medulla.
(17) Of the 406 tests there have been 85 positive, 296 negative and 25 ambiguous reports.
(18) In a second experiment schizophrenics were significantly different from the depressives in showing less inclination to select a metaphorical meaning to an ambiguous adjective in a sentence.
(19) Three-quarters of the sample was impaired on at least one of four discourse tests (knowing the alternate meanings of ambiguous words in context; getting the point of figurative or metaphoric expressions; bridging the inferential gaps between events in stereotyped social situations; and producing speech acts that express the apparent intentions of others).
(20) Yet, the apparent ambiguities of science confuse the courts, the juries, and the public.
Esoteric
Definition:
(a.) Designed for, and understood by, the specially initiated alone; not communicated, or not intelligible, to the general body of followers; private; interior; acroamatic; -- said of the private and more recondite instructions and doctrines of philosophers. Opposed to exoteric.
Example Sentences:
(1) Underlying many criticisms of medical ethics is the failure to realize that medical ethics as such is not a reform movement or an effort to inspire moral behavior, that it is not and cannot be a specialist's body of esoteric knowledge, that it requires facts and conceptual analyses from other fields to do its work, and that value arguments can be carried farther than one generally expects.
(2) Our current understanding of these disease processes is discussed in an effort to review the current status of both the mundane and the esoteric infections of the kidney.
(3) The soundtrack is supplied by vinyl rotating on vintage record players, a gumball machine dispenses yellow, black and white gobstoppers, and the room is surveilled by the beady eyes of esoteric taxidermy that includes a peacock in full plume and a splendid Himalayan wild goat grazing among the soft seating.
(4) Bush's fantastical lyrics, influenced by children's literature, esoteric mystical knowledge, daydreams and the lore and legends of old Albion, seemed irrelevant, and deficient in street-cred at a time of tower-block social realism and agit-prop.
(5) Despite a slightly esoteric focus on the importance of adobe housing, House of Earth also includes graphic sex, including "a scorching lovemaking scene on a hay bale".
(6) From small and relatively esoteric fields 15 or 20 years ago, both have grown enormously.
(7) She reels off esoteric book recommendations ("I just devoured this great book about the mistaken theories of pre-historic sexuality.
(8) It is seen as the province of an elite, using obscure language and esoteric skills with no obvious connection with the world of nursing; in particular, it involves statistics.
(9) Whatever else may be happening in music, they doggedly pursue their own esoteric fascinations and Tomorrow's Harvest is their most haunting album yet.
(10) The curative use of opaque, esoteric formulae is widely reported; Tobelo also have a specialized speech I call 'neo-Ternatese' used for this purpose.
(11) A medicolegal autopsy protocol must serve as something more than an esoteric scientific document.
(12) In a field dominated by big brains and even bigger egos, each mining their own esoteric field, Markram's big data approach to experimental neuroscience represents a cultural revolution.
(13) Far from being some bizarre esoteric theory, intersectionality is alive and kicking all around us, and not just in exclusive ivory tower gender studies clubs.
(14) No longer do image macros and hashtags exist merely as esoteric in-jokes to amuse bored teenagers and social media managers.
(15) It may also be used to meet the sometimes esoteric needs of the researcher, the unique needs of the teacher, or the preferential needs of other individual recorders.
(16) The heirs - directly or indirectly - to an esoteric "moslem" knowledge which has been transmitted since the XVth century by the aristocratic islamized groups, the medicine-men are also the possessors of a knowledge which has been acquired by the autochthonous groups, that are said "masters of the earth" (commoners).
(17) Perhaps the church perceived these women, with their special, often esoteric, healing skills, as a threat to its supremacy in the lives of its parishioners.
(18) Finally, contrary to widespread opinion, few candidates fail on the basis of poor answers to what have been described as more esoteric questions.
(19) The group is thought to overlap with neo-Nazis, adherents of conspiracy theories and other esoteric beliefs.
(20) Investments, whether in stocks and shares, property or in more esoteric assets like commodities, are another matter.