#475. Uncertainty. -- N. uncertainty, incertitude, doubt; doubtfulness &c. adj.; dubiety, dubitation[obs], dubitancy|, dubitousness[obs].
hesitation, suspense; perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment; timidity &c. (fear) 860; vacillation &c. 605; diaporesis[obs], indetermination.
vagueness &c. adj.; haze, fog; obscurity &c. (darkness) 421; ambiguity &c. (double meaning) 520; contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility; open question &c. (question) 461; onus probandi[Lat]; 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 &c. adj.; fallibility.
V. be uncertain &c. adj.; wonder whether.
lose the clue, lose the clew, scent; miss one's way.
not know what to make of &c. (unintelligibility) 519, 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 &c. adj.; put out, pose, puzzle, perplex, embarrass; confuse, confound; bewilder, bother, molder, addle the wits, throw off the scent, ambiguas in vulgus spargere voces[Lat]; keep in suspense.
doubt &c. (disbelieve) 485; hang in the balance, tremble in the balance; depend.
Adj. uncertain; casual; random &c. (aimless) 621; changeable &c. 149.
doubtful, dubious; indecisive; unsettled, undecided, undetermined; in suspense, open to discussion; controvertible; in question &c. (inquiry) 461.
vague; indeterminate, indefinite; ambiguous, equivocal; undefined, undefinable; confused &c. (indistinct) 447; mystic, oracular; dazed.
perplexing &c. v.; enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical; experimental &c. 463.
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 &c. v.; lost, abroad, dsorient; distracted, distraught.
Adv. pendente lite[Lat]; sub spe rati[Lat].
Phr. Heaven knows; who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagree? ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces[Lat].