N. uncertainty,
incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness,
dubiety,
dubitation, dubitancy|, dubitousness,
hesitation,
suspense,
perplexity,
embarrassment,
dilemma,
bewilderment,
timidity,
vacillation,
diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness,
haze,
fog, obscurity,
ambiguity,
contingency,
dependence,
dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission,
precariousness,
fallibility V. be uncertain, wonder whether, lose the clue, lose the clew,
scent, miss one's way, not know what to make of, not know which way to turn, not know whether one stands on one's head or one's heels, float in a sea of doubt,
hesitate,
flounder, lose oneself, lose one's head, muddle one's brains, render uncertain, put out,
pose,
puzzle,
perplex,
embarrass,
confuse,
confound,
bewilder, bother,
molder, addle the wits, throw off the scent, ambiguas in vulgus spargere voces, keep in suspense, doubt, hang in the balance, tremble in the balance, depend
Adj. uncertain,
casual,
random, changeable, doubtful,
dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion,
controvertible, in question, vague,
indeterminate, indefinite,
ambiguous,
equivocal, undefined,
undefinable, confused,
mystic,
oracular,
dazed,
perplexing,
enigmatic,
paradoxical,
apocryphal,
problematical,
hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable) 519, fallible, questionable,
precarious,
slippery,
ticklish,
debatable, disputable,
unreliable, untrustworthy,
contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional,
provisional, unauthentic,
unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze,
bushed, off the track, ignorant,
&c. 491, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning,
astray,
adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus,
puzzled, lost, abroad, dsorient, distracted,
distraught Adv. pendente lite, sub spe rati
Phr. heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagree? ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces
N. meaninglessness, unmeaningness,
scrabble, empty sound, dead letter, vox et praeterea nihil, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing", "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." nonsense, utter nonsense,
gibberish,
jargon,
jabber, mere words, hocus-pocus,
fustian,
rant,
bombast,
balderdash,
palaver,
flummery,
verbiage,
babble, baverdage, baragouin,
platitude, niaiserie,
inanity, flap-doodle,
rigmarole,
rodomontade,
truism, nugae canorae,
twaddle,
twattle,
fudge,
trash,
garbage,
humbug, poppy-cock, stuff, stuff and nonsense,
bosh,
rubbish,
moonshine,
wish-wash,
fiddle-faddle,
absurdity, vagueness, boilerplate
Adj. unmeaning, meaningless, senseless,
nonsensical, void of sense, inexpressive, unexpressive,
vacant, not significant, insignificant,
trashy,
washy,
trumpery,
trivial,
fiddle-faddle,
twaddling,
quibbling, unmeant, not expressed,
tacit, inexpressible,
undefinable,
incommunicable N. unintelligibility,
incomprehensibility,
imperspicuity,
inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity,
ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty,
perplexity,
spinosity, obscurum per obscurius,
mystification,
latency,
transcendentalism,
paradox,
oxymoron,
riddle,
enigma,
puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book,
steganography,
freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high dutch, greek, hebrew,
jargon V. be unintelligible, require explanation, have a doubtful meaning, pass comprehension, render unintelligible,
conceal,
darken,
confuse,
perplex, not understand, lose, lose the clue, miss, not know what to make of, be able to make nothing of, give it up, not be able to account for, not be able to make either head or tail of, be at sea, wonder, see through a glass darkly, not understand one another, play at cross purposes
Adj. unintelligible, unaccountable,
undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable,
unfathomable,
incognizable,
inexplicable,
inscrutable,
inapprehensible,
incomprehensible,
insolvable, insoluble,
impenetrable,
illegible, as greek to one, unexplained,
paradoxical,
enigmatic,
enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533,
indecipherable, obscure, dark,
muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist,
dim,
nebulous, shrouded in mystery,
opaque, dense,
undiscernible,
misty, hidden,
latent, indefinite,
garbled,
perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose,
ambiguous,
mysterious,
mystic,
mystical,
acroamatic,
acroamatical,
metempirical,
transcendental,
occult,
recondite,
abstruse,
crabbed, inconceivable,
inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible,
undefinable,
incommunicable, unpredictable,
unforeseeable Phr. it's greek to me