E-quiv'o-cal1, a.
a. [It. equivocale and equivoco, Sp. & Pg. equivoco, Pr. equivoc, Fr. équivoque, Lat. æquivocus, from æquus, equal, and vox, vocis, word.]
Sense 1. Having different significations equally appropriate or plausible; capable of double interpretation; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words.
For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes. Jeffrey.
Sense 2. Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; as, his actions or words are equivocal. “Equivocal repentances.” Milton.
Sense 3. Uncertain as an indication or sign; dubious; doubtful. “How equivocal a test.” Burke.
Equivocal chord (Mus.), a chord whose intervals, being all minor thirds, do not clearly indicate its fundamental tone or root; the chord of the diminished seventh.—Equivocal generation, the supposed production of animals without the intercourse of the sexes, and of plants without seed. This doctrine is now exploded.
Synonyms—Ambiguous; doubtful; uncertain; indeterminate.—EQUIVOCAL, AMBIGUOUS. We call an expression ambiguous when it has one general meaning, and yet contains certain words which may be taken in two different senses; or certain clauses which can be so connected with other clauses as to divide the mind between different views of part of the meaning intended. We call an expression equivocal when, taken as a whole, it conveys a given thought with perfect clearness and propriety, and also another thought with equal propriety and clearness. Such were the responses often given by the Delphic oracle; as that to Croesus when consulting about a war with Persia: “If you cross the Halys, you will destroy a great empire.” This he applied to the Persian empire, which lay beyond that river, and, having crossed, destroyed his own empire in the conflict. What is ambiguous is a mere blunder of language; what is equivocal is usually intended to deceive, though it may occur at times from mere inadvertence. Equivocation, however, is applied only to cases where there is a design to deceive.