Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 5, 2023 is: ambiguous \am-BIG-yuh-wus\ adjective

To describe something as ambiguous is to say that it can be understood in more than one way or that it has more than one possible meaning.

// We were confused by the ambiguous wording of his message.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambiguous)

Examples:

“There are a lot of reasons for medical errors: inexperienced caregivers; ambiguous symptoms; understaffed hospitals, underlying conditions.” — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 26 July 2023

Did you know?

Ambiguous may highlight the vague and obscure, but its origins are as [clear as a bell](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clear%20as%20a%20bell).

This word comes from the Latin verb ambigō or ambigere, meaning “to be undecided; to dispute,” which in turn combines amb- (“on both sides”) with agere (“to be in motion”). Ambi- is a prefix to many English words denoting two or more options, such as [ambivalent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/ambiguous-vs-ambivalent), [ambidextrous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambidextrous), and [ambient](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambient). Similar prefixes include [bi-](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bi#h2) (as in [bicentennial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bicentennial)), [di-](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/DI#h2) (as in [dialect](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect)), and [multi-](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multi-) (as in [multiverse](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multiverse)).