Meaning & use
uncertainty
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A feeling of doubt about what will happen or what is true, or a situation that cannot be predicted.
Grammar: Uncountable for general doubt; countable for specific doubts: many uncertainties.
Patterns
- uncertainty about something
- uncertainty over something
There is great uncertainty about the future of the factory.
She spoke with uncertainty in her voice.
Economic uncertainty made families cautious about spending.
noununcountabletechnical
In science and statistics, the degree to which a measurement or estimate might be wrong.
Grammar: A technical measure, often written with plus or minus.
Patterns
- measurement uncertainty
The report gives a margin of uncertainty for each result.
Scientists try to reduce uncertainty in their measurements.
The experiment has an uncertainty of two percent.
nouncountable
Something that is not known or settled.
Grammar: Usually plural in this sense: the uncertainties of life.
Patterns
- an uncertainty about something
Moving abroad comes with many uncertainties.
One uncertainty remains: who will pay for the repairs?
The uncertainties of the job worried him.
Word forms
| plural | uncertainties |
|---|
Common combinations
- economic uncertainty
- Economic uncertainty led many people to save more.
- great uncertainty
- There is great uncertainty about the election.
- margin of uncertainty
- The poll has a margin of uncertainty.
- reduce uncertainty
- Clear rules reduce uncertainty.
- period of uncertainty
- The company went through a period of uncertainty.
- face uncertainty
- Students often face uncertainty after graduating.
Synonyms and how they differ
- doubt
- Doubt is a personal feeling of not believing something, whereas uncertainty can describe a whole situation.
- unpredictability
- Unpredictability stresses that events cannot be foreseen, while uncertainty includes not knowing facts.
- hesitancy
- Hesitancy is reluctance to act, and uncertainty is broader.
- ambiguity
- Ambiguity means something has more than one possible meaning, whereas uncertainty means not knowing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: uncertainty or uncertainly?
uncertainty vs uncertainly
Uncertainly is an adverb describing how someone acts, whereas uncertainty is the noun for the state of doubt.
Practice
Because of the ___ about the weather, the organizers prepared an indoor backup plan.
Choose one answer.
Uncertainty means doubt about what will happen, which explains the backup plan. Certainty would remove the need for one.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “uncertainty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.