amphiboly

1. 1.

   an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., `they are flying planes' can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planes

   Synonymsamphibology

   Broaderambiguity

Other forms of amphiboly

plural

amphibolies·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about amphiboly

What does amphiboly mean?

amphiboly means "an ambiguous grammatical construction; e.g., `they are flying planes' can mean either that someone is flying planes or that something is flying planes".

How many syllables are in amphiboly?

amphiboly has 4 syllables: am-phi-bo-ly. The stress falls on "phi".

What is another word for amphiboly?

Close synonyms include amphibology. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is amphiboly a common word?

amphiboly is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.