Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not clearly expressed; inexplicit.
- adj. Not thinking or expressing oneself clearly.
- adj. Lacking definite shape, form, or character; indistinct: saw a vague outline of a building through the fog.
- adj. Not clear in meaning or application. See Synonyms at ambiguous.
- adj. Indistinctly felt, perceived, understood, or recalled; hazy: a vague uneasiness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Wandering; roving; vagrant.
- Uncertain as to characters and specific designation, yet limited in scope and application; restricted in logical breadth, without any corresponding fullness of logical depth; said to be determinate, but without precise expression of the determination. Thus, if anything is described as most extraordinary without saying in what respect, the description is vague; if a word is understood to have a full import but what that is is doubtful, it is vague; if an emotion is strong but unaccompanied by a definite imagination of its object, it is vague; if a pictorial figure represents that something exists but fails to show its shape, situation, etc., it is vague. This meaning of the word (which occurs seldom before the eighteenth century without an explanatory accompaniment) seems to be derived from the logical phrase individuum vagum, meaning a single person or thing, designated as one in number, but without its proper name or any adequate description: as, “a certain man.”
- Proceeding from no known authority; of uncertain origin or derivation: as, a vague report.
- Having unclear perception or thought; not thinking clearly.
- n. A wandering; a journey; a voyage.
- n. A vagary; a whim.
- n. An undefined expanse: indefinite space.
- To wander; rove; roam; play the vagrant.
Wiktionary
- adj. not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
- adj. not having a precise meaning.
- adj. not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.
- adj. not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.
- adj. not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
- adj. lacking expression; vacant.
- adj. not sharply outlined; hazy.
- n. obsolete A wandering; a vagary.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Archaic Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
- adj. Unsettled; unfixed; undetermined; indefinite; ambiguous.
- adj. Proceeding from no known authority; unauthenticated; uncertain; flying.
- n. rare An indefinite expanse.
- v. obsolete To wander; to roam; to stray.
- n. obsolete A wandering; a vagary.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. lacking clarity or distinctness
- adj. not clearly understood or expressed
- adj. not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished
Etymologies
- From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus ("wandering, rambling, strolling, fig. uncertain, vague"). (Wiktionary)
- French, from Old French, wandering, from Latin vagus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“These _vague_ articles, intended for a more vague performance, are the things which have damned our reputation in India.”
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12)
“Curious!" echoed Rebecca, finding the term vague even while suggestive.”
“Weber himself is at least partly to blame for this problem, for he frequently left the term vague, in spite of many attempts to clarify himself.”
Charisma and History: The Case of Münster, Westphalia, 1534-1535. Tal Howard
“An initial draft of the resolution, prepared by France and Britain, had language, I was told, that called for the exercise of "vigilance" involving arms transfers to Syria - a word vague enough for the Russians to have agreed to it last year in the latest round of U.N. sanctions against Iran.”
“I have used the English word vague as an equivalent of that word in Japanese aimaina.”
“Scottish business school student Steven Renwick used to harbor what he called a "vague aspiration" to get his MBA from an American institution such as the Stanford Graduate School of Business.”
“Now, Booth hopes to pick another court fight to clarify what he calls a "vague" situation that has left pastors uncertain about what they can and can't say from the pulpit.”
“Yet despite this well-known pattern of exploitation, the company announced in January that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had awarded it a 5-year $385 million contract to build immigrant "detention facilities" (prisons) for immigrants arrested on charges of entering the country illegally and to provide construction and logistics support services in the event of an "immigration emergency," a term vague enough to cause activists to suspect the worst -- that they are openly planning to build detention camps for political dissidents.”
“Late last week, Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon was quoted as saying, in vague terms, that she'd be open to the idea of adjusting the federal minimum wage laws.”
The Huffington Post: Lawmakers Speak Out In Defense Of The Minimum Wage
“I actually watched the so-called convention on c-span yesterday while exercising and was astounded as I watched speaker after speaker rail and spew in vague generalities not once did anyone actually propose any concrete proposal for a solution to any of their paranoid rants.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vague’.
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Romanticism
Words to describe art of the Romantic Era
contorted, confusing, rebellious, puzzling, passion, bizarre, tortured, bruisy, emotion, brooding, dark, fantasy and 91 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
single-minded, self-seeking, vain, territorial, stubborn, self-possessed, unwary, self-important, rigid, relentless, resolute, purposeful and 189 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
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Mots Fous
Describing the demented--as colorfully as possible.
bats in the belfry, out to lunch, daft, stark ravin' mad, unsound, barmy, nuts but nuts, barking, touched, cracked, doolally, potty and 22 more...
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The Red Pyramid
SAS Gr. 7 EAL Book Read
amulet, relic, hieroglyphics, decipher, ominous, curator, boomerang, vague, agitated, obelisk, linger, hereditary and 37 more...
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writing first chapter
revolve, vital, necessity, depict, archery, indegenous, native, lacrosse, similarly, recess, composition, indicator and 91 more...
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Unclear
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alopecia
i suppose, all of the words & phrases yoni wolf uses in alopecia, that i love.
ladies man, landmine, cavalier, consumer grade video, single's bingo, all-time gringo, calculated birth, manila envelope, mortaring, houdini, punchline, circus mirrors and 160 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
africasunsets's list
serendipity, fragrance, glamour, smitten, nourish, lavish, luxury, wicked, gem, daring, soothe, fantasy and 192 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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Mimi
sober, rhetoric, oratory, ergo, venom, diaphragm, Medieval, piety, incognito, ruse, calamity, evidence and 251 more...
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Favorite Five-Letter Words
Just what it sounds like. My favorites. Five letters.
ennui, barfy, samba, schwa, beefy, chunk, queef, spasm, skulk, bowel, elbow, fruit and 235 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vague.
madmouth about 'scatty' old Anthea Bradbury-Scott:
"She's vague, you know...very vague indeed"
-Agatha Christie's Nemesis Jun 18, 2009