Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Vocabulary: ambiguous, clear-cut

If something is ambiguous, it is not clear. Two people could understand it in different ways. An ambiguous statement could have two or three different meanings.

Here is an example:
"I am sure that no person would be better for the job."
This sentence could be recommending someone for a job - there is nobody better, this person is the best. Or, it could be saying someone is bad for a job - it's better to have *nobody* than hire this person!

Another example is a newspaper headline:
'Stolen Painting Found by Tree'.
Does this mean the painting was next to a tree? Or does it mean the tree found this painting?!

The opposite of ambiguous is unambiguous, or clear-cut. If something is clear-cut, it is well-defined, clear and easy to understand.

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