Adjacent Words

Vague definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VAGUE, a. vag. [L. vagus, wandering.]
1. Wandering; vagrant; vagabond; as vague villains. [In this literal sense, not used.]
2. Unsettled; unfixed; undetermined; indefinite. He appears to have very vague ideas of this subject.
3. Proceeding from no known authority; flying; uncertain; as a vague report.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not clearly understood or expressed; "an obscure turn of phrase"; "an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit"-Anatole Broyard; "their descriptions of human behavior become vague, dull, and unclear"- P.A.Sorokin; "vague...forms of speech...have so long passed for mysteries of science"- John Locke [syn: obscure, vague]
2: not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished; "an undefined term"; "undefined authority"; "some undefined sense of excitement"; "vague feelings of sadness"; "a vague uneasiness" [syn: undefined, vague] [ant: defined]
3: lacking clarity or distinctness; "a dim figure in the distance"; "only a faint recollection"; "shadowy figures in the gloom"; "saw a vague outline of a building through the fog"; "a few wispy memories of childhood" [syn: dim, faint, shadowy, vague, wispy]

Merriam Webster's

adjective (vaguer; vaguest) Etymology: Middle French, from Latin vagus, literally, wandering Date: 1548 1. a. not clearly expressed ; stated in indefinite terms <vague accusations> b. not having a precise meaning <a vague term of abuse> 2. a. not clearly defined, grasped, or understood ; indistinct <only a vague notion of what's needed>; also slight <a vague hint of a thickening waistline> <hasn't the vaguest idea> b. not clearly felt or sensed ; somewhat subconscious <a vague longing> 3. not thinking or expressing one's thoughts clearly or precisely <vague about dates and places> 4. lacking expression ; vacant <vague eyes> <a vague stare> 5. not sharply outlined ; hazy <met by vague figures with shaded torchlights — Earle Birney> Synonyms: see obscure • vaguely adverb • vagueness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 of uncertain or ill-defined meaning or character (gave a vague answer; has some vague idea of emigrating). 2 (of a person or mind) imprecise; inexact in thought, expression, or understanding. Derivatives: vaguely adv. vagueness n. vaguish adj. Etymology: F vague or L vagus wandering, uncertain

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vague Vague, n. [Cf. F. vague.] An indefinite expanse. [R.] The gray vague of unsympathizing sea. --Lowell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vague Vague, v. i. [F. vaguer, L. vagari, fr. vagus roaming.] To wander; to roam; to stray. [Obs.] ``[The soul] doth vague and wander.'' --Holland.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vague Vague, n. A wandering; a vagary. [Obs.] --Holinshed.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vague Vague (v[=a]g), a. [Compar. Vaguer (v[=a]g"[~e]r); superl. Vaguest.] [F. vague, or L. vagus. See Vague, v. i.] 1. Wandering; vagrant; vagabond. [Archaic] ``To set upon the vague villains.'' --Hayward. She danced along with vague, regardless eyes. --Keats. 2. Unsettled; unfixed; undetermined; indefinite; ambiguous; as, a vague idea; a vague proposition. This faith is neither a mere fantasy of future glory, nor a vague ebullition of feeling. --I. Taylor. The poet turned away, and gave himself up to a sort of vague revery, which he called thought. --Hawthorne. 3. Proceeding from no known authority; unauthenticated; uncertain; flying; as, a vague report. Some legend strange and vague. --Longfellow. Vague year. See Sothiac year, under Sothiac. Syn: Unsettled; indefinite; unfixed; ill-defined; ambiguous; hazy; loose; lax; uncertain.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(vaguer, vaguest) 1. If something written or spoken is vague, it does not explain or express things clearly. The description was pretty vague. ...vague information. ? precise ADJ • vaguely 'I'm not sure,' Liz said vaguely... They issued a vaguely worded statement. ADV • vagueness ...the vagueness of the language in the text. N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n 2. If you have a vague memory or idea of something, the memory or idea is not clear. They have only a vague idea of the amount of water available... Waite's memory of that first meeting was vague. = faint ADJ • vaguely Judith could vaguely remember her mother lying on the sofa. ADV: ADV with v 3. If you are vague about something, you deliberately do not tell people much about it. He was vague, however, about just what U.S. forces might actually do... Democratic leaders under election pressure tend to respond with vague promises of action... ADJ 4. If you describe someone as vague, you mean that they do not seem to be thinking clearly. She had married a charming but rather vague Englishman... His eyes were always so vague when he looked at her. ADJ 5. If something such as a feeling is vague, you experience it only slightly. He was conscious of that vague feeling of irritation again... ADJ: usu ADJ n 6. A vague shape or outline is not clear and is therefore not easy to see. The bus was a vague shape in the distance. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Uncertain, ambiguous, dim, doubtful, obscure, undetermined, indefinite, indistinct, unsettled, loose, lax, unfixed. 2. Unauthorized, unwarranted, flying, loose.

Moby Thesaurus

abstract, aimless, airy, aleatoric, aleatory, ambiguous, amorphic, amorphous, amphibological, anarchic, attenuate, attenuated, baggy, bland, blank, blear, bleared, bleary, blind, blobby, blurred, blurry, boyish, broad, capricious, casual, chance, chancy, chaotic, characterless, clear as mud, clouded, cloudy, collective, concealed, confused, dark, delicate, desultory, diaphanous, diluted, dim, disarticulated, discontinuous, disjunct, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disproportionate, doubtful, dreamlike, dreamy, dull, empty, equivocal, erratic, ethereal, expressionless, faint, featureless, feeble, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, fitful, flimsy, foggy, formless, frail, frivolous, fuzzy, gauzy, general, generalized, generic, girlish, gossamer, gracile, gratuitous, half-seen, half-visible, haphazard, hazy, hidden, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, immethodical, imprecise, in doubt, inaccurate, inchoate, incoherent, inconspicuous, inconstant, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, inexact, inexplicit, inform, insubstantial, irregular, irresolute, kaleidoscopic, lacy, lax, light, loose, low-profile, lumpen, meaningless, merely glimpsed, misshapen, misty, murky, mushy, nebulous, neutral, nondescript, nonspecific, nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, obscure, opaque, orderless, out of focus, pale, papery, planless, promiscuous, puzzled, random, rare, rarefied, semivisible, senseless, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, shrouded, slender, slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small, spasmodic, sporadic, stochastic, straggling, straggly, subconscious, subliminal, subtle, svelte, sweeping, sylphlike, systemless, tenebrous, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinnish, threadlike, transcendent, unarranged, uncertain, uncharacterized, unclassified, unclear, undecided, undefined, undestined, undetermined, undifferentiated, undirected, unexplained, unfixed, ungraded, unintelligible, unjoined, unmethodical, unordered, unorganized, unplain, unrecognizable, unsettled, unsorted, unspecific, unspecified, unsubstantial, unsymmetrical, unsystematic, ununiform, vacant, vacillating, vacuous, vaporous, vapory, veiled, wandering, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, wavering, weak, wide, willowy, wiredrawn, wishy-washy, wispy