Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔀 Not grouped 🤔 Not definite
noncategorical

noncategorical

8.3
Not stated in a clear way that leaves room for different meanings
  • adjective
  • /ˌnɒnˈkætəɡɔːrɪkəl/
translation icon : no categórico
  • He gave a noncategorical response, avoiding a direct commitment to the plan.

Examples

  • The manager's noncategorical answer left the team unsure about the project's future.

  • Her noncategorical statement allowed for multiple interpretations of the policy.

  • The results were noncategorical and required further study.

  • Her response was noncategorical and left us uncertain.

  • The teacher's noncategorical remarks about the exam content made the students anxious.

  • When asked about the timeline, the director gave a noncategorical reply that didn't reassure the staff.

  • His noncategorical statements about the project raised more questions than they answered.

Synonyms

unspecific
vsnoncategorical
2 5.8

Not clear or detailed enough to be useful

expresses ideas as tentative or conditional rather than lacking detail
nonabsolute
vsnoncategorical
6.9

Not fixed and able to change depending on the situation

presents ideas conditionally or tentatively rather than as fixed facts

Antonyms

categorical
5 7.2

Clear and without any doubt

How Categorical

categorical
5 7.2
definite
155 1.6
noncategorical
8.3
tentative
57 5.1
speculative
26 6.7

Surface Forms

noncategorical positive

Morphology

noncategorical = categorical (transparent) = non + category + ical

Created by adding the negating prefix 'non-' to 'categorical', giving the clear meaning 'not categorical' in the sense of not absolute or unqualified.

Etymology

Noncategorical comes from non- 'not' and categorical 'clear or absolute'. So a noncategorical answer is not definite and leaves room for other possibilities.