N. qualification, limitation, modification, # coloring, allowance, grains of allowance, consideration, extenuating circumstances, mitigation, condition, proviso, prerequisite, contingency, stipulation, provision, specification, sine qua non, catch, string, strings attached, exemption, exception, escape clause, salvo, saving clause, discount, restriction, fine print

V. qualify, limit, modify, leaven, give a color to, introduce new conditions, narrow, temper, waffle, quibble, hem and haw (be uncertain) 475, equivocate (sophistry) 477, depend, depend on, be contingent on (effect) 154, allow for, make allowance for, admit exceptions, take into account, modulate, moderate, temper, season, leaven, take exception

Adj. qualifying, qualified, conditioned, restricted, hedged, conditional, exceptional, hypothetical, contingent

Adv. provided, provided that, provided always, if, unless, but, yet, according as, conditionally, admitting, supposing, on the supposition of, with the understanding, even, although, though, for all that, after all, at all events, approximately, 17, in a limited degree (smallness) 32, somewhat, sort of, something like that, to a certain extent, to a degree, in a sense, so to speak, with grains of allowance, cum grano salis, exceptis excipiendis, wind and weather permitting, if possible, subject to, conditioned upon, with this proviso

Phr. "if the good lord is willing and the creeks don't rise", catch-22, degrees of evidence

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. supposition, assumption, assumed position, postulation, condition, presupposition, hypothesis, blue sky hypothesis, postulate, postulatum, theory, thesis, theorem, data, proposition, position, proposal, presumption, divination, conjecture, guess, guesswork, speculation, rough guess, shot, shot in the dark, conjecturality, surmise, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, estimate, approximation (nearness) 197, inkling, suggestion, hint, intimation, notion, impression, bare supposition, vague supposition, loose supposition, loose suggestion, association of ideas, (analogy) 514a, metonym, metonymy, simile (metaphor) 521, conceit, idea, thought, original idea, invention (imagination) 515

V. suppose, conjecture, surmise, suspect, guess, divine, theorize, presume, presurmise, presuppose, assume, fancy, wis, take it, give a guess, speculate, believe, dare say, take it into one's head, take for granted, imagine, put forth, propound, propose, start, put a case, submit, move, make a motion, hazard out, throw out a suggestion, put forward a suggestion, put forward conjecture, allude to, suggest, hint, put it into one's head, suggest itself, run in the head, marvel if, wonder if, wonder whether

Adj. supposing, given, mooted, postulatory, assumed, supposititious, suppositive, suppositious, gratuitous, speculative, conjectural, hypothetical, theoretical, academic, supposable, presumptive, putative, suppositional, suggestive, allusive

Adv. if, if so be, an, on the supposition, ex hypothesi, in the case, in the event of, quasi, as if, provided, perhaps, for aught one knows