The decibel simply specifies the ratio of the magnitudes of like quantities, and is never ambiguous because, for example, when referring to voltage, - or current, or weight, or pressure, or any other scalars:
$$ dB = 20 \log_{10} \frac{V1}{V2} $$
However, when time gets involved and movement of a force through time becomes power,
$$ dB = 10\log_{10} \frac{P1}{P2} $$