dubiety

du•bi•e•ty (doo-BAHY-i-tee)  n

Definition:
1. the state of being doubtful; a feeling of doubt that often results in wavering
2. a doubtful matter

Origin:
1750; from L.L. dubietas "doubt, uncertainty," from dubius "vacillating, moving two ways, fluctuating;" figuratively "wavering in opinion, doubting, doubtful," from duo "two", with a sense of "of two minds, undecided between two things." O.E. also used tweo "two" to mean "doubt".

Related:
Synonyms: doubt, doubtfulness, dubiousness, incertitude, indecision, uncertainty
Related Words: doubt, dubious

Sentence Examples:
• Besides the internal evidence, sufficient in itself to fix the authorship upon Miss Carstairs, she has herself removed all dubiety by mentioning upon the first number, that this poetical banquet has been prepared "by the author of the Hubble-Shue." - The Hubble-Shue, Christian Carstairs

• It was with the sense of a, for him, very memorable something that he peered now into the immediate future, and tried, not without compunction, to take that period up where he had, prospectively, left it. But just where the deuce had he left it? The consciousness of dubiety was, for our friend, not, this morning, quite yet clean-cut enough to outline the figures on what she had called his "horizon," between which and himself the twilight was indeed of a quality somewhat intimidating. - A Christmas Garland, Max Beerbohm

• But those who bet are different. They are minutely sensitive to outside occurrences; always seeking signs and interpreting them as favourable or unfavourable as the case may be; and refraining from doing anything so decisive as to call the girl to order. Their game is to be plastic under the fingers of chance; the faintest breath of dubiety can sway them. - Punch, or the London Charivari


Sources: Free Dictionary, Online Etymology

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