“+tē or ti noun
Etymology: Middle English uncertainte, from uncertain (I) + -te -ty
1. : the quality or state of being uncertain : lack of certainty
2. : something that is uncertain : something doubtful or unknown
Synonyms:
uncertainty , doubt , dubiety , dubiosity , skepticism , suspicion , and mistrust can all indicate a lack of sureness about something or someone. uncertainty stresses a lack of certitude ranging from a small falling short of definite knowledge to an almost complete lack of it or even any conviction, especially about an outcome or result
drove without any uncertainty or hesitation as to her route — Margaret Deland
renewed uncertainty about the business outlook — Leo Wolman
convince others without having experienced either uncertainty or conviction himself — C.D.Lewis
the long uncertainty and bloody confusion that attended the breakdown of the Roman Empire — Lewis Mumford
doubt can imply uncertainty about the truth or reality of something or an inability to make a decision in respect to it or arrive at conviction even after study, especially about religious belief
no man likes to have his intelligence or good faith questioned, especially if he has doubts about it himself — Henry Adams
after a very few days more of doubt and indecision, the great question of whither he should go was settled — Jane Austen
a doubt about the existence of evil
the strong religious doubt of the nineteenth century
dubiety is close to uncertainty in stressing a questionableness, a lack of sureness, commonly implying also a wavering between conclusions
it threw a kind of dubiety upon Susan's moral conduct — Charles Lamb
no matter how small the technical probable error of the measurements might be, the dubiety of the result cannot be less than 3 in 105 — N.E.Dorsey & Churchill Eisenhart
with presumable Scotch dubiety he would be inclined to distrust such items on the table as potatoes and ice cream and coffee — completely unknown in his day in Scotland — Alan Gregg
dubiosity is interchangeable with dubiety but may be distinguished from it in often suggesting vagueness, indistinctness, or mental confusion
she pronounced distinctly and without a shadow of dubiosity — George Meredith
skepticism suggests an unwillingness to believe without definitive demonstration, often applying to an habitual or temperamental frame of mind that tends to oppose belief not based on rational or scientific demonstration
skepticism about all facile answers to basic questions of conduct
created skepticism about the wisdom of foreign aid — Henry Wallace
has found that skepticism rather than dogmatism is the key to human freedom — New Republic
a religious skepticism
suspicion stresses a conjectural belief that something is not true, real, or right, generally carrying also the idea of an accompanying uncertainty, doubt, or skepticism
a strong suspicion that the new instrument with which Einstein has presented the mathematicians is being put to uses for which it was never intended — W.R.Inge
public suspicion of the colleges — J.B.Conant
the basic and healthy suspicion of power that is not strictly circumscribed by the rule of the law — Max Lerner
mistrust , in this context, implies a doubt based on suspicion or an anticipation of wrong, falsehood, or evil, in action or result, and precluding faith, confidence, or trust
most physicists have a traditional mistrust of philosophy — W.V.Houston
intracommunity bickering, conflict and mistrust obscure the steady vision of extracommunity danger — A.E.Stevenson b. 1900
his general mistrust of the human race — L.P.Stryker