Having two or more equally applicable meanings; capable of double or multiple interpretation.
equivocal words
Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected.
His actions are equivocal.
Uncertain, as an indication or sign.
How equivocal a test.
A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term.
Some equivocals are merely ambiguous. Sharp is an example. It is equivocal since it is appropriate to call different types of things 'sharp' though what it is for them to be sharp differs.
From Late Latin aequivocus + -al, from aequus + vocō. By surface analysis, equi- + vocal.
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