Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Uncertain
1.
Not certain; not having certain knowledge; not assured in mind; distrustful.
Chaucer.
Man, without the protection of a superior Being, . . . is
uncertain
of everything that he hopes for. Tillotson.
2.
Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy;
as, an
. uncertain
person; an uncertain
breezeO woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain
, coy, and hard to please! Sir W. Scott.
3.
Questionable; equivocal; indefinite; problematical.
“The fashion of uncertain evils.” Milton.
From certain dangers to
uncertain
praise. Dryden.
4.
Not sure; liable to fall or err; fallible.
Soon bent his bow,
uncertain
in his aim. Dryden.
Whistling slings dismissed the
uncertain
stone. Gay.
Syn. – See
Precarious
. Un-cer′tain
,Verb.
T.
[1st pref. ]
un-
+ certain
; or fr. uncertain
, Adj.
To make uncertain.
[Obs.]
Sir W. Raleigh.
Webster 1828 Edition
Uncertain
UNCER'TAIN
, a.1.
Not certain; doubtful; not certainly known. it is uncertain who will be the next president.2.
Doubtful; not having certain knowledge.man without the protection of a superior Being - is uncertain of every thing that he hopes for.
3.
Not sure in the consequence.Or whistling slings dismiss'd the uncertain stone.
4.
Not sure; not exact.Soon bent his bow, uncertain in his aim.
5.
Unsettled; irregular.Definition 2024
uncertain
uncertain
English
Adjective
uncertain (comparative more uncertain, superlative most uncertain)
- Not certain; unsure.
- John Tillotson (1630-1694)
- Man, without the protection of a superior Being, […] is uncertain of everything that he hopes for.
- John Tillotson (1630-1694)
- Not known for certain; questionable.
- Tomorrow's weather is uncertain.
- Not yet determined; undecided.
- Variable and subject to change.
- Fitful or unsteady.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter III:
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter III:
- Unpredictable or capricious.
- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
- O woman! in our hours of ease, / Uncertain, coy, and hard to please!
- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
Antonyms
Translations
not known for certain; questionable
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not yet determined; undecided
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variable and subject to change
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fitful or unsteady
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unpredictable or capricious
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Related terms
Noun
uncertain pl (plural only)
- (with "the") Something uncertain.
- 2011, John Lyons, The Phantom of Chance: From Fortune to Randomness in Seventeenth-Century French Literature
- Thinking about the uncertain refines our perception of the certain, and generally this takes place in a framework in which the uncertain is the future and the certain is the present.
- 2011, John Lyons, The Phantom of Chance: From Fortune to Randomness in Seventeenth-Century French Literature