unequivocal

English

Alternative forms

• unæquivocal (rare)

Etymology

From un- +‎ equivocal.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnɪˈkwɪvəkəl/
• (General American) enPR: ŭn'ĭ-kwĭvʹə-kəl, IPA^(key): /ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪvəkəl
• Hyphenation: un‧equiv‧o‧cal

  • Audio (US):

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Adjective

unequivocal (comparative more unequivocal, superlative most unequivocal)

1. Unambiguous; without equivocation or ambiguity; singularly clear, unmistakable, or unquestionable

   I want you to give me an unequivocal guarantee on that.

   • 1861, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism:

     There exists no moral system under which there do not arise unequivocal cases of conflicting obligation.

   • 2011, M.A. Hayat, Tumors of the Central Nervous System, volume 5:

     Finally, in order to construct an integrated picture of genetic alterations in GBMs, the unequivocal alterations were mapped onto known gliomagenic pathways.

   • 2015 June 18, Nate Chinen, “Review: Eric Revis Trio Lets the Music Lead the Way at the Jazz Gallery”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 June 2022:

     Mr. Cleaver latched on to the idea, and within moments, the trio was swinging hard over a walking bass line — the equivalent of a blurred picture coming into unequivocal focus.

2. (possibly dated) Without equal, matchless.

   the unequivocal scope of the Golden Gate Bridge

Synonyms

• (unambiguous): definite, unambiguous, univocal; see also Thesaurus:explicit

Derived terms

• unequivocality
• unequivocally
• unequivocalness

Collocations

Adjectives often used with "unequivocal"

• evidence ― statement

Translations

without ambiguity

• Bulgarian: недвусмислен (bg) (nedvusmislen)
• Catalan: inequívoc
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不含糊 (zh) (bù hánhu), 明確 / 明确 (zh) (míngquè)

• Czech: jednoznačný (cs) m
• Danish: utvivlsom (da)
• Dutch: eenduidig (nl), onmiskenbaar (nl), niet mis te verstane
• Finnish: yksiselitteinen (fi)
• French: sans équivoque
• German: unzweideutig (de), unmissverständlich (de), eindeutig (de), zweifelsfrei (de), unzweifelhaft (de), aufrichtig (de), uneingeschränkt (de)
• Greek: σαφής (el) m (safís), ξεκάθαρος (el) m (xekátharos), ρητός (el) m (ritós)
• Hungarian: egyértelmű (hu)
• Irish: aonchiallach
• Italian: inequivocabile (it)
• Japanese: 明確な (ja) (めいかくな, meikaku na), 一義的 (ichigiteki)
• Macedonian: недвосмислен m (nedvosmislen)
• Norwegian: utvilsom
• Persian: بی همتا (fa)
• Polish: jednoznaczny, niedwuznaczny, bezsprzeczny
• Portuguese: inequívoco (pt)
• Russian: недвусмы́сленный (ru) (nedvusmýslennyj), однозначный (ru) m (odnoznachnyj)
• Spanish: inequívoco, tajante (es)
• Swedish: entydig (sv), omisskännlig (sv)

without equal

• Bulgarian: несравним (bg) (nesravnim)
• Czech: bezkonkurenční
• Dutch: ongeëvenaard (nl)
• Finnish: verraton (fi)
• German: unerreicht (de), unvergleichlich
• Italian: senza eguali
• Macedonian: беспримерен m (besprimeren)
• Persian: صریح (fa)
• Portuguese: sem igual
• Serbo-Croatian: bez premca

Further reading

• “unequivocal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “unequivocal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.