different between indecipherable vs ambiguous

English

Etymology

From in- +? decipherable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nd??sa?f???b?l/, /?nd??sa?f??b?l/, /?nd?-/

Adjective

indecipherable (comparative more indecipherable, superlative most indecipherable)

1. Not decipherable; impossible to decode, read, understand or comprehend.

   The doctor's handwriting was indecipherable.

Synonyms

• undecipherable
• unreadable
• illegible

Antonyms

• decipherable

Translations

Further reading

• indecipherable, undecipherable at Google Ngram Viewer

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