amphibology

Noun
Synonyms: amphiboly

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)amphibologies

  1. an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., ‘they are flying planes’ can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planesSynonyms: amphibolyType of ambiguity
Word of the day · Sep 29About this word
haphazardadjective

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Am′phi·bol′o·gy (ăm′fĭ-bōl′ō-jy̆), noun; pl. Amphibologies (-jĭz).

Origin: L. amphibologia, for amphibolia, fr. Gr. ἀμφιβολία, with the ending -logia as if fr. Gr. ἀμφίβολος ambiguous + λόγος speech: cf. F. amphibologie. See Amphiboly.

A phrase, discourse, or proposition, susceptible of two interpretations; and hence, of uncertain meaning. It differs from equivocation, which arises from the twofold sense of a single term.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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