What's the difference between ambiguous and indeterminate?

Ambiguous


Definition:

  • (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.

Indeterminate


Definition:

  • (a.) Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not precise; as, an indeterminate number of years.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This technique was applied to a discriminant function model using selected electroencephalographic sleep measures (sleep maintenance, percentage of rapid-eye-movement sleep, and percentage of indeterminate non-rapid-eye-movement sleep) in elderly patients with major depression or dementia of the Alzheimer type.
  • (2) The rapidity of obtaining the results (within one hour), the complete absence of untoward reactions to the radiopharmaceuticals, the much lower frequency of subtle or indeterminate results, the ability to render useful information in the presence of moderate jaundice and the lack of interference from overlying intestinal contents establishes these radionuclide agents as superior to both radiographic oral and intravenous cholangiography in the investigation of the acute abdomen.
  • (3) Two complementary tests were used: a radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) and a HIV EIA recombinant assay (ENVACOR) to check 53 of these indeterminate sera.
  • (4) After complete, high quality x-ray mammography, a palpable mass or nonpalpable mammographic abnormality may remain indeterminate in etiology, and ultrasound may be useful as an adjunctive diagnostic modality.
  • (5) For the antibody-negative specimens, 90.3% of the results were interpreted as negative, 1.3% as positive, and 8.4% as indeterminate.
  • (6) David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and a man you should always take seriously, believes there is a "small but indeterminate category of national security-related claims" in which closed hearings would be justified.
  • (7) Until recently it has been difficult to counsel blood donors with human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-indeterminate Western blot results due to a lack of information concerning the significance of this finding.
  • (8) Among Group 3 two target lesions could not be identified on specimen radiographs and one was indeterminate.
  • (9) As each microregion contains an unknown amount of embedding medium, this quantity generally lies indeterminately somewhere within the wide range between mmol of element per kg of hydrated tissue and mmol of element per kg of dehydrated tissue.
  • (10) Of the 12 children with continued indeterminate HIV-1 status, eight showed neither slgA nor serologic evidence of infection and four showed slgA antibodies.
  • (11) In the third case, which on gray-scale imaging appeared as an indeterminate cystic structure of the cord, color Doppler imaging demonstrated a complex abnormal vascular pattern suggestive of an angiomyxoma.
  • (12) Twenty six type strains were readily grouped, the oxidase positive, the oxidase negative, and the oxidase indeterminate groups.
  • (13) Clinical results included 18 cures, 3 improvements, 2 indeterminates, and 6 failures.
  • (14) No serum specimen collected after 2-11 months from individuals with indeterminate Western blot results was positive by EIA or Western blot.
  • (15) Of 198 patients who had colectomy or proctocolectomy because of inflammatory bowel disease, 52% had ulcerative colitis and 37% had Crohn's disease, 11% were indeterminable according to histologic evaluation of the surgical specimens.
  • (16) Physicians have generally remained passive or intransigent as the society in which they function attempts to compensate for the indeterminate nature of these clinical questions.
  • (17) Sixty-six patients had normal lung scans, 29 had high-probability defects suggestive of PE, and 21 had indeterminate-probability of PE.
  • (18) The cumulative patency rate at 5 years was 80% in the atherosclerosis group, 89% in the FMD group, and 74% in the indeterminate group.
  • (19) The results suggest that Chagas' disease in rhesus monkeys reproduces the acute and indeterminate phases of human Chagas' disease.
  • (20) In a large number of cases the initial manifestations are those of the indeterminate form and, in an even larger number of cases, of the tuberculoid pole.