Nondiagnostic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Not providing useful information for identification or diagnosis; lacking features that enable clear classification or determination; failing to aid in evaluating or distinguishing a condition
2. Insufficient or irrelevant for determining a diagnosis; not contributing to the decision-making process in identifying a problem; devoid of distinctive characteristics needed for assessment
3. Not yielding clarity in diagnosing an issue; incapable of supporting conclusive identification; offering no definitive clues to facilitate understanding or categorization

Etymology: The word is a plain formation: the English prefix "non-", meaning "not", attached to "diagnostic". The base word traces back through a chain of Greek parts. "Diagnostic" is built from "dia-", "through" or "apart", and "gignōskein", "to know", which is itself rooted in an ancient Indo-European verb for knowing or recognising. Ancient Greek combined these into "diagnōsis", a discerning or recognising, and then added the adjectival suffix "-tikos" to form "diagnōstikos", meaning able to discern or distinguish. English borrowed "diagnostic" from that Greek adjective, and "non-" was then prefixed to it in English to mean not relating to diagnosis. The result is a modern compound with no ancient ancestor of its own: the Greek supplies the core, while the negating prefix is an English addition.

Synonyms: nonindicative, nonrevealing, uninformative, ambiguous

Antonyms: diagnostic, indicative, revealing, informative, conclusive