incertitude

[ in-sur-ti-tood, -tyood ]

noun

1. uncertainty or doubtfulness.
2. instability or insecurity:

   The incertitude of his position in life caused him to postpone marriage.

incertitude

/ ɪnˈsɜːtɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. uncertainty; doubt
2. a state of mental or emotional insecurity

Word History and Origins

Origin of incertitude¹

From the Late Latin word incertitūdō, dating back to 1595–1605. See in- ³, certitude

Example Sentences

Organizers said a dual solution was required — “a physical and contemporary design for a facility that could combat extreme heat and poor lighting conditions with limited resources, and a social resoluteness to overcome incertitude from within the community.”

From Seattle Times

Like the TVA in "Loki," "Rick and Morty" treats godly matters and incertitude as equal virtues, and makes pondering our relationship with worship as it relates to religions, systems or individuals, completely entertaining.

From Salon

And yet the actor spent much of a recent conversation candidly admitting to ambivalence and incertitude.

From New York Times

But to add a slice of certainty to that heaping helping of incertitude, Shawnee Mission schools have released a draft reopening plan covering three possible scenarios: “All students in school, an alternating schedule where students would attend on-site part-time and remote part-time, and all instruction occurring remotely at home.”

From Washington Times

But underneath the skepticism, something else nagged at me: the sense that my incertitude was a metastasis of our jittery, gaslit world, where baseline reality is increasingly in dispute.

From New York Times