ambiguate

English

Etymology

Stem of ambiguous (Latin ambiguus) +‎ -ate.

Verb

ambiguate (third-person singular simple present ambiguates, present participle ambiguating, simple past and past participle ambiguated)

1. (transitive) To make more ambiguous.
   • 1993, Thomas N. Corns, The Cambridge Companion to English Poetry, Donne to Marvell:

     Marvell is as careful here to ambiguate the nature of his poem's speaker as he was in presenting the 'forward youth' of the 'Horatian Ode'.

   • 2013, Jean Kirsch, Murray Stein, How and Why We Still Read Jung: Personal and professional reflections:

     To ambiguate Jung means to read his texts as ambiguous, even when the statements they contain appear superficially unambiguous.

   • 2016, Richard Gilmore, Searching for Wisdom in Movies:

     Immediately then Socrates will give counterexamples to this definition, ambiguating the definition. Laches will define courage as standing firm in battle. Socrates will ask about whether a person can be courageous in sickness, in business, […]

Synonyms

• complicate
• confuse

Antonyms

• disambiguate

Derived terms

• ambiguation
• ambiguator

 

Translations

to make more ambiguous

• French: ambiguïser (fr)
• Hungarian: többértelművé tesz, több különböző jelentéstartalommal lát el / tölt meg / ruház fel
• Portuguese: ambiguar, ambiguizar