What's the difference between dubious and uncertain?

Dubious


Definition:

  • (a.) Doubtful or not settled in opinion; being in doubt; wavering or fluctuating; undetermined.
  • (a.) Occasioning doubt; not clear, or obvious; equivocal; questionable; doubtful; as, a dubious answer.
  • (a.) Of uncertain event or issue; as, in dubious battle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s impossible to automate fully the process of separating truth from falsehood, and it’s dubious to cede such control to for-profit media giants.
  • (2) The draw was enough to take England to the finals in Japan, where Beckham exorcised the demons of four years earlier by scoring the only goal (a dubiously awarded penalty) in the defeat of Argentina.
  • (3) But Blair's address - "history will forgive us" - was a dubious exercise in group therapy: the cheers smacked of pathetic gratitude, as he piously pardoned the legislators, as well as himself, for the catastrophe of Iraq.
  • (4) I drive past buildings that I know, or assume, to house bedsits, their stucco peeling like eczema, their window frames rattling like old bones, and I cannot help myself from picturing the scene within: a dubious pot on an equally dubious single ring, the female in charge of it half-heartedly stirring its contents at the same time as she files her nails, reads an old Vogue, or chats to some distant parent on the telephone.
  • (5) A dubious pattern is emerging of donations through front companies.
  • (6) The relationship of this metabolic aberration to the production of headache still remains dubious for various reasons.
  • (7) During his stints in the Bush and Obama administration Comey has continually taken authoritarian and factually dubious public stances both at odds with responsible public policy and sometimes the law.
  • (8) Today the overestimation of human understanding is reflected in a dogmatic adherence to specific professional or idealogically biased doctrines and in the dubious ideal of a purely empirical science with its limited applicability to mankind.
  • (9) It seems clear that even as we buy cheap clothes with dubious provenance, from an ethical standpoint, people want to do better.
  • (10) Their mechanism is dubious: swelling of mitochondria and intracellular lipidosis, which could signify cellular hypoxia, are rarely present.
  • (11) Imprecise definitions of these complications of necrotizing pancreatitis make inter-institutional comparisons of previously identified data dubious.
  • (12) Critics say this is part of a broader, dubious attempt to appease the Kremlin and boost bilateral trade.
  • (13) In his attempt to justify the unjustifiable, Mr Grieve has clutched at a fragile constitutional doctrine and adopted a deeply dubious legal course.
  • (14) Exporting what appear to be educational success stories is a dubious enterprise, because it is so easy to misread how another country's system works and to discount its cultural background.
  • (15) Observed retrospectively, in some cases death was the result of dubious indication.
  • (16) The Guardian’s own readers’ anthology of dubious deals – crusty rolls 40p, two for £1!
  • (17) Sensitivity (dubious + positive, after exclusion of inadequates) was 0.83 and dependent on histologic type (infiltrating = 0.87, intraductal = 0.68).
  • (18) The vice-president even made repeated trips to CIA headquarters in Langley to bully analysts into producing more hawkish reports, while Rumsfeld’s Pentagon sucked up highly dubious “evidence” from Iraqi exiles and ideological freelancers.
  • (19) This becomes very dubious when they are more numerous.
  • (20) The change in surface tension did not correlate with a change in lung retractive forces or with lung lipid content and was, therefore, of dubious biological significance.

Uncertain


Definition:

  • (a.) Not certain; not having certain knowledge; not assured in mind; distrustful.
  • (a.) Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy; as, an uncertain person; an uncertain breeze.
  • (a.) Questionable; equivocal; indefinite; problematical.
  • (a.) Not sure; liable to fall or err; fallible.
  • (a.) To make uncertain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, the mechanism of the inhibitory action is still somewhat uncertain.
  • (2) Of course the job is not done and we will continue to remain vigilant to all risks, particularly when the global economic situation is so uncertain,” the chancellor said in a statement.
  • (3) The functional significance of these early changes in the nodal region is uncertain.
  • (4) Preservation of dopaminergic and H1 neurotransmission, probably within the blood barrier, is needed to allow the neuroendocrine transduction of cholinergic inputs, whereas the role of 5-HT neurotransmission remains uncertain.
  • (5) The nature of these infiltrative foci remains uncertain; however, they are unlikely to have been of neoplastic origin and may be due to interleukin-2-induced lymphocytic infiltration.
  • (6) Whether or not any alteration in disease progression will accrue from demonstrated local downstaging is, of course, uncertain.
  • (7) Similarly, it appears that acute hydronephrosis or worsening of an existing hydronephrosis has been somewhat overlooked as a possible cause of uncertain abdominal pain during pregnancy.
  • (8) In 11 patients, the electrophysiological mechanism remained uncertain.
  • (9) The nature of the cystatin C-immunoreactive substance in some of these vascular lesions is uncertain, but it might conceivably play an additional important role in the pathogenesis of brain hemorrhage in these cases.
  • (10) The mechanism of action is still uncertain but it is believed by some workers to be similar to that of a beta-adrenergic stimulator.
  • (11) Assays of drug levels in blood and of other biochemical characteristics of psychiatric patients are being proposed for clinical application, although their utility in practice remains uncertain.
  • (12) In 26 patients, including the two reported here, etiology was uncertain (idiopathic aneurysm of the left ventricle) in as much as malformation or an infectious disease might have been the underlying cause.
  • (13) Instead of inevitable defeat there is uncertain cop-out.
  • (14) The aetiology remains at present uncertain and therefore rational therapeutic strategies are difficult to plan.
  • (15) It was concluded that (1) there is a group of patients whose histories of poliomyelitis are uncertain, and (2) the lack of clear evidence for previous denervation after extensive electrodiagnostic testing is a valid means for excluding the diagnosis of postpoliomyelitis syndrome.
  • (16) Although approximately 24,000 adolescents were questioned, the investigations together provide an uncertain picture of the habits as these are not representative for Danish adolescents.
  • (17) McCall said the outlook remained uncertain: “The economic and operating environment remains uncertain, following the high levels of disruption and more recently the UK’s referendum decision to leave the EU, as well as the recent events in Turkey and Nice, which have affected consumer confidence.
  • (18) The significance of this event is uncertain; cleaved NGF demonstrates bioactivity and no function has been attributed to the octapeptide produced (NGF-OP; Ser-Ser-Thr-His-Pro-Val-Phe-His).
  • (19) While the histogenesis of these tumors remain uncertain, it is necessary to recognize that these aggressive neoplasms may occur primarily in the skin.
  • (20) Estimates of the number of eventual TA-AIDS cases to be seen are considerably more uncertain and require additional assumptions about the incubation distribution.