Both Uses of
equivocal
in
Jane Eyre
- And you have derived pleasure from occasional tokens of preference — equivocal tokens shown by a gentleman of family and a man of the world to a dependent and a novice.†
p. 186.7
- He made a curious grimace — one of his strange and equivocal demonstrations — threw down his cue and followed me from the room.†
p. 257.6 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(equivocal) unclear in meaning -- especially where opposing interpretations are reasonable (sometimes intentionally)
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
The form unequivocal (not equivocal; or clean in meaning) is encountered much more frequently, but equivocal is seen on many more SAT review lists.