uncertainty

Word family

un·cer·tain·ty /ʌnˈsɜːtnti $ -ˈsɜːr-/ noun (plural uncertainties)

1 [uncountableU] when you feel doubt about what will happen 犹豫，迟疑，无把握

Times of great change are also times of uncertainty.

发生巨大变革的时期也是动荡的时期。

uncertainty about/as to

There is a great deal of uncertainty about the company’s future.

公司的前景有很多未知因素。

2 [countableC usually plural] a situation which you are not sure about because you do not know what will happen 令人无把握的局面

life’s uncertainties

人生的无常

uncertainty of

the uncertainties of old age

老年生活的不确定性

Examples from the Corpus

uncertainty• With that she departed, leaving the young man full of ardor and decision, all his former uncertainty and hesitation gone.• In such a climate of unbalance, of moral uncertainty there is bound to come a period of esthetic drought.• There is a great deal of uncertainty about the future of the company.• Life is full of uncertainties and problems.• People live from day to day in a world full of uncertainties.• Fourth, the elimination of exchange rate uncertainty is likely to yield benefits in terms of higher growth rates of intra-union trade and investment.• Did his supportive family have to withstand the same uncertainty?• Future trends in marital status Future trends in marital status are subject to some uncertainty.• But the inmates could know nothing of the future, only the uncertainty of their terrible present.• Main reasons seem to be persistent low profitability among farmers and their uncertainty about the future.

uncertainty about/as to• At that point, probabilities abound, and there is complete uncertainty as to what result that measurement will produce.• The second was the uncertainty as to the time the offender would spend in prison.

From Longman Business Dictionary

uncertaintyun·cer·tain·ty /ʌnˈsɜːtnti-ɜːr-/ noun [uncountableU]

a situation when what will happen in the future is likely to change, often in a way that is bad

Exchange rate uncertainty is bound to reduce investment.

uncertainty over/about

The announcement ends months of uncertainty over the contract’s future.

Chinese

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