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ll the knowledge they have, without the help of any innate impressions; and may arrive at certainty without any such original notions or principles. Locke.

The state of feeling insecure; uncertainty; want of confidence. With what insecurity of truth we ascribe effects . . . unto arbitrary calculations. Sir T. Browne. A time of insecurity, when interests of all sorts become objects of speculation. Burke.

ty. O, that a man might know The end of this day's business ere it come! Shak. There is a certainty in the proposition, and we know it. Dryden. Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong. Longfellow.

o, to sustain a loss without sinking under it. -- To be at a loss, to be in a state of uncertainty.

Something allowed, or reserved, for that which can not be foreseen or known with certainty.

Possibility; uncertainty. [R.] What they offer is mere maybe and shift. Creech.

Confusion of thought; perplexity; uncertainty; state of bewilderment.

ractically sufficient; -- opposed to legal or demonstrable; as, a moral evidence; a moral certainty.

ty or state of being obscure; darkness; privacy; inconspicuousness; unintelligibleness; uncertainty. Yuo are not for obscurity designed. Dryden. They were now brought forth from obscurity, to be contemplated by artists with admiration and despair. Macaulay.

that it rather inclines to one persussion than to another, yet not without a mixture of incertainty or doubting. Sir M. Hale. I can not put off my opinion so easily. Shak.

Specially or decisively characteristic of a disease; indicating with certainty a disease; as, a pathognomonic symptom. The true pathognomonic sign of love jealousy. Arbuthnot.

r less measurable distance. Hence, aërial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects. Aërial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc. Ruskin.

In a positive manner; absolutely; really; expressly; with certainty; indubitably; peremptorily; dogmatically; -- opposed to negatively. Good and evil which is removed may be esteemed good or evil comparatively, and positively simply. Bacon. Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord, Before I positively speak here…

The quality or state of being positive; reality; actualness; certainty; confidence; peremptoriness; dogmatism. See Positive, a. Positiveness, pedantry, and ill manners. Swift. The positiveness of sins of commission lies both in the habitude of the will and in the executed act too; the positiveness of sins of omission i…

epending on unknown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes. "Intervals of partial and precarious liberty." Macaulay.

ded by law. It is the shallow, unimproved intellects that are the confident pretenders to certainty. Glanvill.

One who maintains that certainty is impossible, and that probability alone is to govern our faith and actions.

r fact, and produces belief; a test by facts or arguments that induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration. I'll have some proof. Shak. It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases. Emerson.

A state of difficulty or perplexity; doubt; uncertainty.

o reason; just; rational; as, the measure must satisfy all reasonable men. By indubitable certainty, I mean that which doth not admit of any reasonable cause of doubting. Bp. Wilkins. Men have no right to what is not reasonable. Burke.