Terminology Tuesday: Equivocal

Equivocal: Adjective that describes the status of a term when is it used in more than one sense in the course of an argument, so that the argument commits the logical fallacy of equivocation. Note the equivocal use of terms in the following humorous example: "I love you. Therefore I am a lover. All the world loves a lover. You are the world to me. Therefore you love me."1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 40.