uncertainty

noun

1)

the uncertainty of the stock market

Syn:

unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness, chanciness, precariousness, changeability, variability, inconstancy, fickleness, caprice

Ant:

predictability

2)

uncertainty about the future is always bad for morale

Syn:

doubt, lack of certainty, indecision, irresolution, hesitancy, unsureness, doubtfulness, wavering, vacillation, equivocation, vagueness, haziness, ambivalence, lack of conviction, disquiet, wariness, chariness, leeriness, skepticism; queries, questions; formal dubiety

3)

she pushed the anxious uncertainties out of her mind

Syn:

doubt, qualm, misgiving, apprehension, quandary, reservation, scruple, second thought, query, question, question mark, suspicion

4)

there was uncertainty in his voice

Syn:

hesitancy, hesitation, tentativeness, unsureness, lack of confidence, diffidence, doubtfulness, doubt

Ant:

confidence

••

uncertainty, doubt, dubiety, skepticism

If you're not sure about something, you're probably experiencing a degree of uncertainty, which is a general term covering everything from a mere lack of absolute certainty (uncertainty about the time of the dinner party) to an almost complete lack of knowledge that makes it impossible to do more than guess at the result or outcome (uncertainty about the country's future). Doubt implies both uncertainty and an inability to make a decision because the evidence is insufficient (considerable doubt as to her innocence). Dubiety comes closer in meaning to uncertainty than to doubt, because it stresses a lack of sureness rather than an inability to reach a decision; but unlike uncertainty, it connotes wavering or fluctuating between one conclusion and another (no one could fail to notice the dubiety in his voice). If you exhibit skepticism, you are not so much uncertain as unwilling to believe. It usually refers to an habitual state of mind or to a customary reaction (she always listened to his excuses with skepticism).