nebulous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: neb=u=lous

CIDE DICTIONARY

nebulous, a. [L. nebulosus: cf. F. nébuleux. See Nebula.].

•  Cloudy; hazy; misty.  [1913 Webster]
•  Of, pertaining to, or having the appearance of, a nebula; nebular; cloudlike.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

nebulous, adj.
1 cloudlike.
2 a formless, clouded. b hazy, indistinct, vague (put forward a few nebulous ideas).
3 Astron. of or like a nebula or nebulae.

Idiom

nebulous star a small cluster of indistinct stars, or a star in a luminous haze.

Derivative

nebulosity n. nebulously adv. nebulousness n.

Etymology

ME f. F n{eacute}buleux or L nebulosus (as NEBULA)

THESAURUS

nebulous

Cynthian, abstract, amorphous, anagalactic, asteroidal, astral, astrologic, astrologistic, astrologous, astronomic, astrophysical, bland, blind, blurred, broad, castellatus, celestial, circumplanetary, cirrose, cirrous, cislunar, clear as mud, cloud-flecked, clouded, cloudy, collective, cumuliform, cumulous, dark, dim, dirty, empyreal, empyrean, equinoctial, extragalactic, faint, featureless, foggy, fuzzy, galactic, general, generalized, generic, gloomy, hazy, heavenly, heavy, heliacal, ill-defined, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, intercosmic, interplanetary, intersidereal, interstellar, lenticularis, lunar, lunary, lunate, lunular, lunulate, mammatus, meteoric, meteoritic, misty, muddy, murky, nebular, nebulose, neutral, nimbose, nonspecific, nubilous, obscure, opaque, overcast, overclouded, pale, planetal, planetarian, planetary, planetesimal, semilunar, shadowy, shapeless, sidereal, solar, sphery, squally, star-spangled, star-studded, starry, stellar, stellary, stormy, stratiform, stratous, terrestrial, thunderheaded, transcendent, turbid, uncharacterized, unclear, undifferentiated, unplain, unspecified, uranic, vague, wide, zodiacal

ROGET THESAURUS

nebulous

Bubble

N bubble; cloud, bubble, foam, froth, head, spume, lather, suds, spray, surf, yeast, barm, spindrift, cloud, vapor, fog, mist, haze, steam, geyser, scud, messenger, rack, nimbus, cumulus, woolpack, cirrus, stratus, cirrostratus, cumulostratus, cirrocumulus, mackerel sky, mare's tale, dirty sky, curl cloud, frost smoke, thunderhead, nephelognosy, nephograph, nephology, effervescence, fermentation, bubbling, nebula, cloudliness, nebulosity, bubbling, frothy, nappy, effervescent, sparkling, mousseux, frothy, up, cloudy, thunderheaded, vaporous, nebulous, overcast, the lowring element scowls o'er the darkened lands.

Dimness

N dimness, darkness, paleness, half light, demi-jour, partial shadow, partial eclipse, shadow of a shade, glimmer, gliming, nebulosity, cloud, eclipse, aurora, dusk, twilight, shades of evening, crepuscule, cockshut time, break of day, daybreak, dawn, moonlight, moonbeam, moonglade, moonshine, starlight, owl's light, candlelight, rushlight, firelight, farthing candle, dim, dull, lackluster, dingy, darkish, shorn of its beams, dark, faint, shadowed forth, glassy, cloudy, misty, blear, muggy, fuliginous, nebulous, nebular, obnubilated, overcast, crepuscular, muddy, lurid, leaden, dun, dirty, looming, pale, confused.

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.