process–product ambiguity an ambiguity that occurs when a noun can refer either to a process (or activity) or to the product of that process (or activity). E.g., ‘The definition was difficult’ could mean either that the activity of defining was a difficult one to perform, or that the definiens (the form of words proposed as equivalent to the term being defined) that the definer produced was difficult to understand. Again, ‘The writing absorbed her attention’ leaves it unclear whether it was the activity of writing or a product of that activity that she found engrossing. Philosophically significant terms that might be held to exhibit process–product ambiguity include: ‘analysis’, ‘explanation’, ‘inference’, ‘thought’. P.Mac.