incertain
adjEtymology From Middle English incertayne, borrowed from Middle French incertain, derived in the 14th c. from certain, after Latin incertus (“uncertain”). By surface analysis, in- + certain.
1
Obsolete Not certain, uncertain.
- ...or to be worse then worst Of those, that lawlesse and incertaine thought, Imagine howling, 'tis too horrible.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 71, column 2, lines 126–128:
- And again, that as these acquisitions are in themselves generally worthless, so are the means to attain them not only base and infamous, but at best incertain, and always full of danger.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
- Synonyms
- uncertain
- Related terms
- incertitude