| English Dictionary |
UNCERTAIN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does uncertain mean?
• UNCERTAIN (adjective)
The adjective UNCERTAIN has 7 senses:
1. lacking or indicating lack of confidence or assurance
2. not established beyond doubt; still undecided or unknown
3. not established or confirmed
4. not certain to occur; not inevitable
5. subject to change
6. not consistent or dependable
7. ambiguous (especially in the negative)
Familiarity information: UNCERTAIN used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking or indicating lack of confidence or assurance
Synonyms:
Context example:
touched the ornaments with uncertain fingers
Similar:
ambivalent (uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow)
doubtful; dubious (fraught with uncertainty or doubt)
groping (acting with uncertainty or hesitance or lack of confidence)
Attribute:
certainty (the state of being certain)
assurance; authority; confidence; self-assurance; self-confidence; sureness (freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities)
Antonym:
certain (having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured)
Derivation:
uncertainness (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not established beyond doubt; still undecided or unknown
Context example:
without further evidence his story must remain uncertain
Similar:
indefinite (not decided or not known)
up in the air (very uncertain)
Also:
indeterminate; undetermined (not precisely determined or established; not fixed or known in advance)
Attribute:
certainty; foregone conclusion; sure thing (something that is certain)
Antonym:
certain (established beyond doubt or question; definitely known)
Derivation:
uncertainness (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not established or confirmed
Synonyms:
uncertain; unsealed
Context example:
his doom is as yet unsealed
Derivation:
uncertainness (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not certain to occur; not inevitable
Context example:
the issue is uncertain
Similar:
chancy; flukey; fluky; iffy (subject to accident or chance or change)
contingent (uncertain because of uncontrollable circumstances)
up in the air (not yet determined)
Also:
unpredictable (not capable of being foretold)
Antonym:
certain (certain to occur; destined or inevitable)
Derivation:
uncertainness (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Subject to change
Synonyms:
changeable; uncertain; unsettled
Context example:
unsettled weather with rain and hail and sunshine coming one right after the other
Similar:
variable (liable to or capable of change)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Not consistent or dependable
Context example:
a gun with a rather uncertain trigger
Similar:
undependable; unreliable (not worthy of reliance or trust)
Derivation:
uncertainness (being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Ambiguous (especially in the negative)
Context example:
she spoke in no uncertain terms
Similar:
ambiguous (having more than one possible meaning)
Context examples
Anyway, it's an uncertain state of matters, you see.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A WHO grade I tumor of uncertain histogenesis which is composed of stromal cells and abundant capillaries.
(Hemangioblastoma, NCI Thesaurus/Adapted from WHO)
A rare soft tissue neoplasm of uncertain lineage characterized by the presence of neoplastic spindle to round cells forming cords in a fibromyxoid stroma.
(Nonossifying Fibromyxoid Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)
The future must be very uncertain.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Such cases with atypical features may have an uncertain malignant potential.
(Cellular Blue Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)
A benign soft-tissue neoplasm of uncertain lineage, characterized by the presence of neoplastic spindle-shaped to round cells and a fibromyxoid stroma.
(Fibromyxoid Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
Representative examples include mesenchymal cell neoplasms, metastatic carcinomas to the bones, and primary neoplasms of uncertain histogenesis.
(Connective and Soft Tissue Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)
A tumor composed of small round tumor cells of uncertain histogenesis, associated with prominent stromal desmoplasia and polyphenotypic differentiation.
(Desmoplastic small round cell tumor, NCI Thesaurus)
An aggressive malignant neoplasm of uncertain lineage, characterized by the presence of epithelioid cells forming nodular patterns.
(Epithelioid Sarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A rare malignant soft tissue neoplasm of uncertain lineage characterized by the presence of chondroblast-like cells in a myxoid stroma and a multinodular growth pattern.
(Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Tree would bend when it bears fruit." (Azerbaijani proverb)
"Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble." (Arabic proverb)
"He who seeks, finds." (Corsican proverb)