different between confused vs ambiguous

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?fju?zd/

Verb

confused

1. simple past tense and past participle of confuse

Adjective

confused (comparative more confused, superlative most confused)

1. (of a person) unable to think clearly or understand
2. (of a person or animal) disoriented
3. chaotic, jumbled or muddled
4. making no sense; illogical
5. embarrassed

Synonyms

• (unable to think clearly or understand): puzzled, perplexed, dazed

Hyponyms

• often-confused

Related terms

• confuse
• confusing
• confusion

Translations

Anagrams

• foncused

English

Etymology

From Latin ambiguus (“moving from side to side, of doubtful nature”), from ambigere (“to go about, wander, doubt”), from ambi- (“around, about, on both sides”) + agere (“to drive, move”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æm?b??ju?s/

Adjective

ambiguous (comparative more ambiguous, superlative most ambiguous)

1. Open to multiple interpretations.

   Synonym: equivocal

   Antonym: unambiguous

2. (obsolete, of persons) Hesitant; uncertain; not taking sides.
   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury

     And forasmuch as in this same question I am ambiguous, and Simplicius is resolute....

Related terms

• ambages
• ambiguity
• ambiguate
• ambiguation
• disambiguation

Translations

See also

• contradictory
• mistakable
• confusing

Further reading

• ambiguous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ambiguous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “ambiguous”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN