amphibology

American  

[am-fuh-bol-uh-jee] / ˌæm fəˈbɒl ə dʒi /

noun

plural

amphibologies

1. amphiboly.

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amphibology British  

/ æmˌfɪbəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, æmˈfɪbəlɪ, ˌæmfɪˈbɒlədʒɪ, æmˈfɪbələs /

noun

1. ambiguity of expression, esp when due to a grammatical construction, as in save rags and waste paper

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Other Word Forms

• amphibolic adjective
• amphibological adjective
• amphibologically adverb

Etymology

Origin of amphibology

1325–75; Middle English amphibologie < Late Latin amphibologia. See amphiboly, -logy

Example Sentences

Here’s where the book gets funny, shuffling through various 13th-century attempts to salvage dishonesty: equivocation, mental reservation, amphibology.

From Slate • Feb. 6, 2015

Of course, the theologians who advocated amphibology operated from a religious framework that feels remote to us now.

From Slate • Feb. 6, 2015

It had been an excellent quaere to have posed the devil of Delphos, and must needs have forced him to some strange amphibology.

From Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend by Browne, Thomas, Sir