unclear

«unclear» in Mova's school dictionary: Not easy to understand, see or hear; confusing — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (unclear, more unclear, most unclear)

meaning for a pupil

1) Not easy to understand, see or hear; confusing. tree →

2) Not known for sure: «It is unclear who won.» tree →

3) (of a person) Not sure about something: «I'm unclear about the homework.» tree →

sense in the lessons

In school: unclear instructions, unclear handwriting, an unclear question in a test. In news and stories: «It is still unclear what happened» means nobody knows yet. In maths, if a problem is unclear, ask what is given and what is asked.

examples

• The instructions were unclear, so we asked the teacher. tree →
• His handwriting is unclear; is that a 1 or a 7? tree →
• It is unclear whether the match will go ahead. tree →
• I'm unclear about what we have to do for homework. tree →
• The photo was unclear because the camera moved. tree →
• The cause of the fire is still unclear. tree →

note

Takes «an»: «an unclear answer». Often in «It is unclear whether/who/why …». Opposite: clear. Do not confuse with «unclean» (dirty).

In the corpora

• Unclear promises cause rows; «give» means to keep, «lend» means to give back.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «unclear» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.