(a.) (Literally, called equally one thing or the other; hence:) Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence.
(a.) Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected; as, his actions are equivocal.
(a.) Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful.
(n.) A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque.
Example Sentences:
(1) However six equivocal studies were observed in profoundly jaundiced patients with bilirubin levels above 400 mumol l-1 due to difficulties in differentiating extrahepatic obstruction from severe intrahepatic cholestasis.
(2) The great clinical value of the procedure is shown by the following findings:X-ray-negative lesions--including 2 cases of carcinoma--were found in 35 percent of the cases, radiologically demonstrated lesions could be defined more precisely in 18 percent, and the presence of colonic lesions could be ruled out in 11 percent in spite of equivocal X-ray findings.
(3) Differentiation of thrombi from slow flow in the pulmonary arteries, sometimes observed in the presence of pulmonary arterial hypertension, can be equivocal.
(4) Conversely, the presence of unchanged intracellular or intraluminal O-acetyl sialic acid may help to exclude a diagnosis of malignancy in equivocal cases.
(5) Interpretation of scans was equivocal in another 18% of patients due to undetectable ascension of the tracer to the uterus.
(6) Endpoint events were also more common in patients with an abnormal (positive or equivocal) preoperative exercise test response than in those with a negative response (27% vs 14%); however, preoperative exercise results were not statistically significant independent predictors of cardiac risk.
(7) Radiographic appearances of tumours of the paranasal sinus are often equivocal.
(8) Of these 65 donors, 46 had normal studies, nine had pericardial effusions, five had mild septal hypokinesia with otherwise normal function, four had equivocal mitral valve prolapse, and only one heart could not be visualized.
(9) Different procurement systems have already made England a slightly "different country" for Scottish suppliers, many of whom are more concerned about Cameron's equivocal attitude towards the European Union.
(10) Tumor rates are given for each positive or equivocal effect observed in 67 studies judged to show carcinogenic effects and in the 17 studies that show equivocal effects.
(11) Conflicting and equivocal data have characterized self-reports of depression and other affects in alcoholics.
(12) None of the lesions with histologic features equivocal for HPV infection had detectable HPV DNA by in situ hybridization, though some did contain HPV DNA sequences as ascertained by filter hybridization analysis.
(13) While it is unlikely that Zardari's government had any direct link to the Mumbai attacks, there is every reason to believe that its failure effectively to crack down on the country's jihadi network, and its equivocation with figures such as Hafiz Muhammad Syed, means that atrocities of the kind we saw last week are likely to continue.
(14) Avascular lesions were the main cause for equivocal or incorrect angiographic diagnoses.
(15) A regular histologic examination was equivocal for evidence of HPV infection in four of the seven cases.
(16) No changes in regional contractility occurred with propranolol except for a minimal increase in hypokinesis in one patient at each dosage and equivocal development of a new area of slight hypokinesis in one patient and minimal apex of dyskinesis in another at the higher dosage.
(17) Enterobacteriaceae that yield zones of inhibition equal to or greater than 20 mm in diameter around 50-mug discs of carbenicillin are designated as sensitive to the drug; isolates that yield zones measuring from 18 to 19 mm in diameter are reported as of equivocal (intermediate) susceptibility to the drug, whereas those enterobacterial isolates that are characterized by zones of inhibition of 17 mm or less in diameter are interpreted as resistant to carbenicillin.
(18) Of the 47 compounds that were positive or equivocal in the alkaline unwinding assay, only carbon tetrachloride and prednisolone were negative in the mouse lymphoma assay, while 12 of the 19 compounds that were negative in the alkaline unwinding assay were positive in the mouse lymphoma assay.
(19) Cavernography should be used in the equivocal cases without hematuria or signs of fracture.
(20) It was observed that 2,4-D, dimecron, and vitavax were clastogenic, but the results obtained with benomyl and monocrotophos were equivocal.
Incongruous
Definition:
(a.) Not congruous; reciprocally disagreeing; not capable of harmonizing or readily assimilating; inharmonious; inappropriate; unsuitable; not fitting; inconsistent; improper; as, an incongruous remark; incongruous behavior, action, dress, etc.
Example Sentences:
(1) The findings indicate that there is still a significant incongruence between the value structure of most family practice units and that of their institutions but that many family practice units are beginning to achieve parity of promotion and tenure with other departments in their institutions.
(2) Motion’s inner dialogue with his father’s memory coloured his own mission to Germany, but he was conscious of the incongruity of his presence among the Desert Rats.
(3) We successfully applied it in the treatment of eight fractures of the shafts of the femur or tibia which would not unite because of infection, soft tissue interposition or gross incongruity of fragments.
(4) Fifty-nine Salter-Harris III and IV lesions of the medial malleolus, Tillaux fractures, and triplane fractures were examined after 9 (3-32) years to assess the frequency of late symptoms, deformity, joint incongruity, and secondary arthrosis.
(5) The thymus is the first organ in the body to age, which seems incongruent considering its cardinal role in the immune system.
(6) Children recalled incongruent material more than congruent material on the comprehension-monitoring task.
(7) One joint was congruent, in agreement with the hypotheses, but the other was incongruent.
(8) Nothing in the present findings, however, is incongruent with the possibility of an association between low platelet MAO activity and bipolar affective disorder.
(9) Results showed significantly longer VRTs in the Accuracy group, and more errors in the Speed group to right-field projections (initial left hemisphere input) of the incongruent color-words during the color-naming condition.
(10) In addition, background music was either congruent or incongruent with the affect of an episode's outcome.
(11) Examination of 29 cases of fracture of the distal radius with restricted motion or persistent pain in 22 patients showed that most had been caused by incongruity of the distal radioulnar joint or by rotational malalignment in supination or pronation.
(12) Incongruous and illusory depth cues, arising from 'interference patterns' produced by overlapping linear grids at the edges of escalator treads, may contribute to the disorientation experienced by some escalator users, which in turn may contribute to the causes of some of the many escalator accidents which occur.
(13) Congruent students did in fact achieve significantly higher cumulative GPA and science GPA than did incongruent students.
(14) In Experiment 1, at a stimulus onset asynchrony of 300 ms, congruous situations showed 59 ms of facilitation while incongruous situations did not differ from the baseline.
(15) The reasons for post-traumatic contracture of the elbow could be intrinsic such as interposed fragments, intra-articular adhesions, incongruity of the articular surfaces--or extrinsic--like contractures of the capsule and ligaments, adhesions of different layers, ectopic bone formations.
(16) In one, incongruous homonymous hemianopsia was accompanied by a decrease in visual acuity in one eye from chiasmal involvement.
(17) Congruence between the object display and the sentence produced significantly higher recall and clustering than the incongruence or control conditions.
(18) She laughs raucously again, mirth appearing to be, incongruously, her way of acknowledging pain.
(19) Once incongruent persistence is suspected, the possibility of parental falsification of symptoms must be faced.
(20) The proverbs appeared either in their original form or with their final word changed to be incongruous with the sentence context.