Uncertain, a.
Etymology: [Pref. un- + certain. Cf. Incertain.]
1. Not certain; not having certain knowledge; not assured in mind; distrustful. Chaucer. Man, without the protection of a superior Being, . . . is uncertain of everything that he hopes for. Tillotson.
2. Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy; as, an uncertain person; an uncertain breeze. O woman! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please! Sir W. Scott.
3. Questionable; equivocal; indefinite; problematical. "The fashion of uncertain evils." Milton. From certain dangers to uncertain praise. Dryden.
4. Not sure; liable to fall or err; fallible. Soon bent his bow, uncertain in his aim. Dryden. Whistling slings dismissed the uncertain stone. Gay.
1 more senses
Syn. -- See Precarious.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Uncertain, v. t.
To make uncertain. [Obs.] Sir W. Raleigh.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for uncertain; he lists it under equivocal, precarious.
Where he writes about it:
Uncertain is applied to things that human knowledge can not certainly determine or that human power can not certainly control; precarious originally meant dependent on the will of another, and now, by extension of meaning, dependent on chance or hazard, with manifest unfavorable possibility verging toward probability; as, one holds office by a precarious tenure, or land by a precarious title; the strong man's hold on life is uncertain, the invalid's is precarious. — from precarious