uncertainty
/ʌnˈsɜːtənti//ʌnˈsɝtənti/
uncertainty noun: doubt; the condition of being uncertain or without conviction.
Noun
uncertainty (countable and uncountable, plural uncertainties)
- Doubt; the condition of being uncertain or without conviction.
- “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 51
- After spending so much of the season looking upwards, the swashbuckling style and swagger of early season Spurs was replaced by uncertainty and frustration against a Norwich side who had the quality and verve to take advantage2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1-2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport
- Something uncertain or ambiguous.
- Near-synonym: uncertain (noun)
- Some uncertainties remain; an especially salient uncertainty is the timing of their return trip.
- Synonyms:
- uncertain
- A parameter that measures the dispersion of a range of measured values.
uncertainty meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
uncertainty in Hindi
- doubt; the condition of being uncertain
- संदेह sandeh, संशय sañśay, अनिश्चय aniścay
- something uncertain or ambiguous
- अनिश्चितता aniścittā, अनिश्चय aniścay
uncertainty in Tamil
- உறுதியின்மை, நிலையின்மை, நிச்சயமின்மை, சந்தேகத்திற்கு இடமான, ஐயப்பாடு
uncertainty in Marathi
- अनिश्चितता, अनिश्चिती
uncertainty in Urdu
- uncertainty
- آسنکا āsaṅkā, شبہہ śubha, اشتباہ iśtibāh
- uncertainty, indecision
- اوہ ūh
More languagesFewer languages
- uncertainty in Bengali
- অনিশ্চয়তা, অনিশ্চয়, অনবস্থা
- uncertainty in Telugu
- అనిశ్చితి, అనిశ్చితత
- uncertainty in Malayalam
- അനിശ്ചിതത്വം
- uncertainty in Kannada
- ಸಂಶಯ saṃśaya
- uncertainty in Punjabi
- ਅਨਿਸ਼ਚਿਤਤਾ, ਅਨਿਸ਼ਚਤਤਾ
- uncertainty in Gujarati
- અનિશ્ચિતતા
- uncertainty in Odia
- ଅନିଶ୍ଚିତତା, ଅନିଶ୍ଚଯ଼ତା
- uncertainty in Nepali
- अनिश्चितता, अनिश्चिता
- uncertainty in Tagalog
- dikatiyakan
- uncertainty in Malay
- ketidakpastian
- uncertainty in Thai
- ความไม่แน่นอน
Examples of uncertainty in a sentence
- The gulf between the Labour leadership’s past positions and the milder proposals in the manifesto means that enormous uncertainty hangs over what a Corbyn-led government would do in office.2018 May 17, “Corbynomics would change Britain—but not in the way most people think”, in The Economist:
- Over the past 43 years, RAIL has reported on how the railways have gone from uncertainty under government control to sectorisation, privatisation, and back to uncertainty under government control.2024 January 10, Howard Johnston, “Launched for enthusiasts - now it's for everyone”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 28:
Synonyms of uncertainty
Antonyms
Forms of uncertainty
| plural | uncertainties |
|---|---|
| alternative India | uncertainity |
Origin of uncertainty
From Middle English uncerteynte; equivalent to un- + certainty or uncertain + -ty.
Words formed from uncertainty
Phrases with uncertainty
Questions about uncertainty
- What does uncertainty mean?
- Uncertainty means doubt; the condition of being uncertain or without conviction.
- What is uncertainty in Hindi?
- Uncertainty in Hindi is संदेह (sandeh), संशय (sañśay), अनिश्चय (aniścay). See Uncertainty meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use uncertainty in a sentence?
- The gulf between the Labour leadership’s past positions and the milder proposals in the manifesto means that enormous uncertainty hangs over what a Corbyn-led government would do in office.
- What part of speech is uncertainty?
- Uncertainty is a noun.
- How do you pronounce uncertainty?
- Uncertainty is pronounced /ʌnˈsɜːtənti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of uncertainty?
- The plural of uncertainty is uncertainties.
Words near uncertainty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uncertainty (page history and authors); uncertainty (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); uncertainty (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); آسنکا (Urdu) (page history and authors); uncertainty (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); uncertainty (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); uncertainty (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ಸಂಶಯ (Kannada) (page history and authors); uncertainty (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); uncertainty (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); uncertainty (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); uncertainty (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-uncertainty.wav, en-us-uncertainty.ogg.
Cite this entry: “uncertainty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uncertainty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.