vague

• POS: Adjective

CIDE DICTIONARY

vague, a. [F. vague, or L. vagus. See Vague, v. i.].

•  Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.  Hayward.  [1913 Webster]

  "She danced along with vague, regardless eyes."  [1913 Webster]
•  Unsettled; unfixed; undetermined; indefinite; ambiguous; as, a vague idea; a vague proposition.  [1913 Webster]

  "This faith is neither a mere fantasy of future glory, nor a vague ebullition of feeling."  [1913 Webster]

  "The poet turned away, and gave himself up to a sort of vague revery, which he called thought."  [1913 Webster]
•  Proceeding from no known authority; unauthenticated; uncertain; flying; as, a vague report.  [1913 Webster]

  "Some legend strange and vague."  [1913 Webster]

Vague year. See Sothiac year, under Sothiac.

Syn. -- Unsettled; indefinite; unfixed; ill-defined; ambiguous; hazy; loose; lax; uncertain.

vague, n. [Cf. F. vague.].

 An indefinite expanse.  [1913 Webster]
"The gray vague of unsympathizing sea."  [1913 Webster]

vague, v. i. [F. vaguer, L. vagari, fr. vagus roaming.].

 To wander; to roam; to stray.  Holland.  [1913 Webster]

vague, n. 

 A wandering; a vagary.  Holinshed.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

vague, 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.

Derivative

vaguely adv. vagueness n. vaguish adj.

Etymology

F vague or L vagus wandering, uncertain

THESAURUS

vague

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

ROGET THESAURUS

vague

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.

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.