vague
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus (“uncertain, vague”, literally “wandering, rambling, strolling”).
Inflected forms:
form: vaguer
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: vaguest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: vagues
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: vagues
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: vaguing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: vagued
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: vagued
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
pos: adj
examples: It follows from what has been said that a vague thought has more likelihood of being true than a precise one. To try and hit an object with a vague thought is like trying to hit the bull's eye with a lump of putty: when the putty reaches the target, it flattens out all over it, and probably covers the bull's eye along with the rest. To try and hit an object with a precise thought is like trying to hit the bull's eye with a bullet. The advantage of the precise thought is that it distinguishes between the bull's eye and the rest of the target.
Throughout the first week of his presidency, Dulles and Bissell continued to brief Kennedy on their strategy for Cuba, but the men were vague and their meetings offered little in the way of hard facts.
gloss: Not having a precise meaning.
pos: adj
examples: a vague term of abuse
gloss: Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.
pos: adj
examples: only a vague notion of what’s needed
a vague hint of a thickening waistline
I haven’t the vaguest idea.
gloss: Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.
pos: adj
examples: a vague longing
⁠For though my nature rarely yields
⁠To that vague fear implied in death;
⁠Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath,
The howlings from forgotten fields; […]
gloss: Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
pos: adj
examples: Waxed-fleshed out-patients / Still vague from accidents, / And characters in long coats / Deep in the litter-baskets […]
gloss: Lacking expression; vacant.
pos: adj
gloss: Not sharply outlined; hazy.
pos: adj
examples: He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.
gloss: Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
pos: adj
examples: The Lord Gray incourag'd his men to set sharply upon the vague villains
She danced along with vague, regardless eyes, / Anxious her lips, her breathing quick and short: [...]
gloss: An indefinite expanse.
pos: noun
examples: The gray vague of unsympathizing sea / That dragged his fancy from her moorings back / To shores inhospitable of eldest time.
gloss: A wandering; a vagary.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: [T]he Scots had some leasure to plaie their vagues
gloss: to wander; to roam; to stray.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
examples: [The soul] doth vague and wander.
gloss: To become vague or act in a vague manner.
pos: verb
examples: Vaguely, yes. I've vagued all my life; that's been my curse.
A man's mind vagued up a little, for how can you remember the feel of pleasure or pain or choking emotion?
What's with you? You're all vagued out.
gloss: To make vague negative comments publicly; to make highly veiled complaints or insults.
pos: verb
tags: Internet
intransitive
Synonyms: ambiguous
equivocal
fuzzy
generic
gray
imperspicuous
imprecise
indeterminate
indefinite
indistinct
murky
nebulous
turbid
uncertain
unclear
undefined
undefinable
vague
woolly
Antonyms: certain
clear
definable
defined
determinate
definite
distinct
exact
perspicuous
precise
Related words: extravagant
gay vague
gender-vague
noctivagant
vagabond
vagary
vaguely
vagueness
vagus
mysterious
Translations: