UNCERTAINTY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does uncertainty mean? 

• UNCERTAINTY (noun)
  The noun UNCERTAINTY has 2 senses:

1. being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance

2. the state of being unsure of something

  Familiarity information: UNCERTAINTY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNCERTAINTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

precariousness; uncertainness; uncertainty

Context example:

the precariousness of his income

Hypernyms ("uncertainty" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "uncertainty"):

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiousness; question (uncertainty about the truth or factuality or existence of something)

indefiniteness; indefinity; indeterminacy; indeterminateness; indetermination (the quality of being vague and poorly defined)

unpredictability (lacking predictability)

improbability; improbableness (the quality of being improbable)

fortuitousness (the quality of happening accidentally and by lucky chance)

speculativeness (the quality of being a conclusion or opinion based on supposition and conjecture rather than on fact or investigation)

Antonym:

certainty (something that is certain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being unsure of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty

Hypernyms ("uncertainty" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "uncertainty"):

arriere pensee; mental reservation; reservation (an unstated doubt that prevents you from accepting something wholeheartedly)

distrust; misgiving; mistrust; suspicion (doubt about someone's honesty)

disbelief; incredulity; mental rejection; skepticism (doubt about the truth of something)

indecision; indecisiveness; irresolution (doubt concerning two or more possible alternatives or courses of action)

peradventure (doubt or uncertainty as to whether something is the case)

suspense (an uncertain cognitive state)

Antonym:

certainty (the state of being certain)

 Context examples 

The chill of Mrs. Fairfax's warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Neither did my aunt; who must have walked, at various times, a hundred miles in her uncertainty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Ah!—(shaking his head)—the uncertainty of when I may be able to return!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Every thing in such suspense and uncertainty; and seeing him so seldom—we can hardly meet above twice a-year.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The measure of uncertainty of an observation result.

(Observation Result Uncertainty, NCI Thesaurus)

I am no match-maker, as you well know, said Lady Russell, being much too well aware of the uncertainty of all human events and calculations.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"As a natural component of the anti-cancer immune network, unlike pharmacological inducers which carry associated toxicity and uncertainty, beta-GBP has no harmful properties," Professor Mallucci said.

(Molecule in Immune System Able to Trigger 'Suicide' of Cancerous Tumors, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He had studied them intently, ranging from one to another and back again, and I could see that there was uncertainty in his mind, and bepuzzlement.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“To be justified in your eyes, he must do it in the most complete uncertainty of any provision.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Uncertainty remains as to whether the planet lies inside, outside, or on the cusp of the habitable zone, where liquid water may exist on a planet’s surface.

(Closest Temperate World Orbiting Quiet Star Discovered, ESO)