Meaning & use
degree of uncertainty
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The amount to which something is doubtful or not fully known.
Grammar: Countable with a: there is a degree of uncertainty; a high degree of uncertainty.
Patterns
- a degree of uncertainty about something
- a high degree of uncertainty
- some degree of uncertainty
There is a high degree of uncertainty about next year's budget.
Scientists admit a degree of uncertainty in their climate models.
Every forecast carries some degree of uncertainty.
nouncountabletechnical
In statistics and measurement, a range or margin showing how far a reported value could be wrong.
Grammar: Technical sense: the degree of uncertainty in a measurement.
Patterns
- the degree of uncertainty in something
- measure the degree of uncertainty
The poll reports its degree of uncertainty as plus or minus three percent.
The degree of uncertainty in the measurement was very small.
Researchers calculated the degree of uncertainty in their estimate.
Word forms
| plural | degrees of uncertainty |
|---|
Common combinations
- high degree of uncertainty
- Investors face a high degree of uncertainty.
- some degree of uncertainty
- There is some degree of uncertainty in the data.
- reduce the degree of uncertainty
- More tests reduce the degree of uncertainty.
- a degree of uncertainty about
- There remains a degree of uncertainty about the cause.
Synonyms and how they differ
- doubt
- Doubt is the personal feeling of not believing, while degree of uncertainty gives a sense of how much is unknown.
- margin of error
- Margin of error is a specific numerical range in statistics, whereas degree of uncertainty can be a general, non-numerical idea.
- unpredictability
- Unpredictability concerns how hard it is to foresee the future, rather than not knowing the present facts.
Opposites
Word family
- uncertain adjective
- not sure or not known
- uncertainty noun
- the state of not being sure
- uncertainly adverb
- in a hesitant, unsure way
- certainty noun
- the state of being sure
Commonly confused: degree of uncertainty or degree of difficulty?
degree of uncertainty vs degree of difficulty
Degree of difficulty rates how hard a task is, not how doubtful an outcome is.
Practice
The report admits there is a high ____ of uncertainty in its predictions.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is degree of uncertainty. Level of already contains of and would give of twice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “degree of uncertainty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.