unclear
UK/ʌnˈklɪə(ɹ)//ʌnˈklɪɚ/
unclear adjective: ambiguous; liable to more than one interpretation.
Adjective
unclear (comparative unclearer or more unclear, superlative unclearest or most unclear)
- Ambiguous; liable to more than one interpretation.
- The remark she made comparing her life with that of a fish was unclear.
- Not clearly or explicitly defined.
- Not easy to see or read; indecipherable or unreadable.
- From such a long distance away, the name on the signpost was unclear.
- Not having a clear idea; uncertain.
- I'm still unclear about what she meant by that remark.
Verb
unclear (third-person singular simple present unclears, present participle unclearing, simple past and past participle uncleared)
- To undo the process of clearing.
- Clearing, unclearing and deleting activities1998, Jeffrey J. Mayer, ACT! 4 for Windows for Dummies, page xx
- […] finally [the block] would be cleared and remain that way until moved. Although this clearing and unclearing can occur repeatedly, the current BAGGER algorithm is unable to generalize number within unwindable subproofs.2012, Gerald DeJong, Investigating Explanation-Based Learning, page 108
unclear meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
unclear in Hindi
- unclear, obscure, difficult to comprehend
- अस्पष्ट aspaṣṭ
unclear in Tamil
- தெளிவற்றது, தெளிவற்ற
unclear in Marathi
- अस्पष्ट
unclear in Urdu
- ابر آلود, دھندلا, غیرواضح, ملگجا, مبہم
More languagesFewer languages
- unclear in Bengali
- আবছা abocha, অক্ষুণ্ণ ôkkhunnô
- unclear in Malayalam
- വ്യക്തമല്ലാത്ത, വ്യക്തതയില്ലാത്ത, അവിസ്പഷ്ട, സ്പഷ്ടമല്ലാത്ത
- unclear in Kannada
- ಅಸ್ಪಷ್ಟ
- unclear in Punjabi
- ਅਸਪਸ਼ਟ
- unclear in Odia
- ଅସ୍ପଷ୍ଟ, ଅସ୍ପଷ୍ଟ |
- unclear in Sanskrit
- मूढ mūḍhá
Examples of unclear in a sentence
- The outcome of the forthcoming election is still unclear due to the large number of floating voters.
- It's unclear which side will win the latest face-off between the President and Congress.
- The illegibility of his handwriting made it unclear which answer he wrote.
Forms of unclear
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | unclearer |
| comparative | more unclear |
| superlative | unclearest |
| superlative | most unclear |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | unclears |
| present participle | unclearing |
| past participle | uncleared |
| past | uncleared |
Origin of unclear
From Middle English unclere, equivalent to un- + clear. Compare Saterland Frisian uunkloor (“unclear”), West Frisian ûnklear (“inoperative, broken”), Dutch onklaar (“out of order, defective, broken”), German unklar (“unclear”), Danish uklar (“unclear”), Swedish oklar (“unclear”).
Words formed from unclear
Words that rhyme with unclear
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- spear
- career
- fear
- here
- steer
- appear
- cavalier
- cheer
- leer
- pioneer
- queer
- volunteer
- adhere
- beer
- chandelier
- deer
- financier
- pier
- premier
- privateer
- sheer
- veer
- vizier
- austere
- bombardier
- brigadier
- cashmere
- commandeer
- disappear
- endear
- grenadier
- interfere
- mere
- mountaineer
- peer
- sear
- tear
- tier
- arrear
- bier
- blear
- cameleer
- cashier
- chiffonier
- cohere
- fakir
- farseer
- frontier
Questions about unclear
- What does unclear mean?
- Unclear means ambiguous; liable to more than one interpretation.
- What is unclear in Hindi?
- Unclear in Hindi is अस्पष्ट (aspaṣṭ). See Unclear meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is unclear?
- Unclear can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce unclear?
- Unclear is pronounced /ʌnˈklɪə(ɹ)/ (UK).
Words near unclear in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unclear (page history and authors); अस्पष्ट (Hindi) (page history and authors); unclear (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unclear (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unclear (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অক্ষুণ্ণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); unclear (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); unclear (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unclear (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); unclear (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); मूढ (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-unclear.ogg.
Cite this entry: “unclear.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unclear. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.