incertitude means uncertainty, doubt, insecurity. It carries an Arena rating of 1713, earned across 36 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, incertitude ranks #2,857 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,607 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #4,643 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words, #5,335 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
Why “incertitude” is a great word
INCERTITUDE — [Noun] A state of uncertainty or doubt; the condition of being unsure or lacking assurance. From Middle French incertitude, from Late Latin incertitūdō, from Latin in- ("not") + certitūdō ("certainty"). Unlike “doubt,” which actively interrogates a specific fact, or “hesitation,” which manifests as a consequential pause in action, incertitude is the pervasive, passive climate of the unsettled mind. It is the quiet hum of a ship’s engines at night when the navigator’s instruments have failed, the specific gravity of an unopened letter on a hallway table, and the grey light of predawn that defines nothing—the fertile, aching ground of all that is not yet, and may never be, known.
Etymology
From Middle French incertitude.
noun
- uncertainty, doubt, insecurity
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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