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There are certain cases where a single word takes on more than one meaning. This is ostensibly the same word and, superficially, it often seems to have a single definition (it certainly started with only one). However, for some reason or another, these words evolved to mean somewhat different things in different contexts (such as in different fields and/or communities).

Basically, these words exhibit

  • A single original meaning that (over time) diverges into several
  • A relatively clear meaning within a specific context
  • Different meanings in different contexts, which may be obscured by superficial similarity

A common example of this is "data scientist". If you ask people in different in different, you will get surprisingly different expectations of what a data scientist is. Some define them as experts in machine learning. Others consider them to be closer to data analysts or statisticians. Still others focus on domain knowledge and insights/storytelling through data. Often these communities aren't really aware that the others mean something similar but rather different.

You might say that "data science is an ambiguous word". While this description isn't wrong, it doesn't really capture the first two points very well. These kinds of words began as a single concept and evolved to express separate but clear (at least in isolation) to different groups of people.

You could arguably call it "jargon", since it tends to be associated with a field or professional group. The key difference is that jargon tends to have a single specific definition. I'd imagine these words are often "buzzwords", since that would encourage wide and inconsistent use, but I wouldn't say that is an essential component.

I hope I was able to convey the idea clearly. Honestly, I found it surprisingly hard to describe given the slippery nature of these words.

Gumbercules
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  • "Data science is a poorly defined concept." Are you asking how to say that, or another term that does describe a particular activity well? It isn't clear to me what the actual question is. – Weather Vane Jun 30 '21 at 09:41
  • That does fit to an extent, it certainly is poorly defined, but within a particular community it often seems clearly defined. That's the part I'm struggling to capture - that it actually has commonly understood meanings in context. – Gumbercules Jun 30 '21 at 09:49
  • This is because these terms become jargon for specific fields. Outside those fields they either have no well defined meaning, or a more general, typically older meaning in the common vernacular. That's what I'd go with. – GArthurBrown Jun 30 '21 at 09:52
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    You mean polysemy? – Stuart F Jun 30 '21 at 09:55
  • At first glance, it looks like polysemy fits really well. I think it might be exactly the word I'm looking for. – Gumbercules Jun 30 '21 at 10:01
  • 'Polysemy' has been covered before, as a search will show. Few words are not polysemous to some degree or other. How words change meaning / acquire new additional meanings is discussed under 'semantic shift'. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 30 '21 at 13:53

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An excellent word was contributed by Stuart F in a comment. For the sake of completeness, I’ll post it as an answer so the question can be resolved, but full credit goes to Stuart and the Wikipedia definition.

Polysemy...is the capacity for a word or phrase to have multiple meanings, usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field. Polysemy is thus distinct from homonymy—or homophony—which is an accidental similarity between two (or even more) words (such as bear the animal, and the verb to bear); while homonymy is a mere linguistic coincidence, polysemy is not. In deciding between polysemy or homonymy, it might be necessary to look at the history of the word to see if the two meanings are historically related. Dictionary writers often list polysemes under the same entry; homonyms are defined separately.

Gumbercules
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