e·quiv·o·cal

(ĭ-kwĭv′ə-kəl)

adj.

1. Open to two or more interpretations and often intended to conceal the truth. See Synonyms at ambiguous.

2. Characterized by a mixture of opposing elements and therefore questionable or uncertain: Evidence of the drug's effectiveness has been equivocal.

[From Late Latin aequivocus : Latin aequi-, equi- + Latin vocāre, to call; see wek^w- in Indo-European roots.]

e·quiv′o·cal′i·ty (-kăl′ĭ-tē), e·quiv′o·cal·ness n.

e·quiv′o·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

equivocality, equivocacy

the state or quality of being ambiguous in meaning or capable of double interpretation. — equivocal, adj.

equivocality

noun

An expression or term liable to more than one interpretation:

ambiguity, double-entendre, equivocation, equivoque, tergiversation.

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References in periodicals archive

In a multitasking team where various simultaneous performances are called for, equivocality can occur between the task for individual or for team.

Effects of collectivism and individualism on performance: Dynamic collectivism in Korean firms

Internal and external integration for product development: the contingency effects of uncertainty, equivocality and platform strategy.

Impact of Effective Logistic Management on Organizational Performance

Aristotle's notion of homonymy is not that of equivocality or ambiguity, though the former may be derived from the latter.

Explanation and Essence in Posterior Analytics II 16-17

Managing uncertainty and equivocality in joint process development projects.

Smart Factory Implementation and Process Innovation: A Preliminary Maturity Model for Leveraging Digitalization in Manufacturing: Moving to smart factories presents specific challenges that can be addressed through a structured approach focused on people, processes, and technologies

The equivocality, purposelessness, and openness of Walther's work actually requires users to assume odd positions of physical vulnerability and to undertake disturbing activities steeped in uncertainty about what one is doing, for how long, and why.

ACTIVE DUTY: CAROLINE LILLIAN SCHOPP ON THE ART OF FRANZ ERHARD WALTHER

Environmental uncertainty and equivocality continue to create rich sense-making environs (Weick, 1993).

Crisis? What Crisis? Strategic Crisis Management, and the GM Ignition Switch Crisis

What specific criteria determine the functions that can or should be performed at a central hub and which functions should be present in a regional entity to increase the speed and reach of information while decreasing equivocality?

Global Command and Control for the Future Operating Concept: Implications for Structural Design and Information Flow

K., Message equivocality, media selection, and manager performance: Implications for information systems.

THE PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN COMPLETING AN ASSEMBLY AND INSTALL OF COMPONENTS BY REFERRING TO WRITTEN MANUALS WITH OR WITHOUT DIAGRAMS: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

One possible reason for the equivocality of past research on media-based interventions is that the counter-exemplar in question must be capable of overriding heavy news consumers' default tendency to generalize from chronically accessible exemplars derived from frequent news consumption.

The effect of counterexemplars and victim expectations on crime perceptions and hostile attitudes toward racial minorities