vague

comparative vaguer · superlative vaguest

1. Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.

   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.

   2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

   1 more example

   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.

   1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind

   Synonyms: inarticulate, unclear, abstruse, Chinese, dense, enigmatic, fathomless, bottomless

2. Not having a precise meaning.

   a vague term of abuse

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal

3. Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.

   I haven’t the vaguest idea.

   2 more examples

   only a vague notion of what’s needed

   a vague hint of a thickening waistline

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal, indistinct, obscure

4. Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.

   a vague longing

   1 more example

   ⁠For though my nature rarely yields ⁠To that vague fear implied in death; ⁠Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath, The howlings from forgotten fields; […]

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62

5. Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.

   Waxed-fleshed out-patients / Still vague from accidents, / And characters in long coats / Deep in the litter-baskets […]

   1962, Philip Larkin, Toads Revisited

   Synonyms: dazed

6. Lacking expression; vacant.

   Synonyms: vacant, vacuous

7. Not sharply outlined; hazy.

   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.

   1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

   Synonyms: fuzzy, hazy, ill-defined, dim, fuzzy, distant, hazy, ill-defined

8. Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.

   The Lord Gray incourag'd his men to set sharply upon the vague villains

   1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI

   1 more example

   She danced along with vague, regardless eyes, / Anxious her lips, her breathing quick and short: [...]

   1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza VIII, page 87

   Synonyms: erratic, roaming, unsettled, vagrant, vagabond

plural vagues

1. An indefinite expanse.

   The gray vague of unsympathizing sea / That dragged his fancy from her moorings back / To shores inhospitable of eldest time.

   1869 December (indicated as 1870 January), James Russell Lowell, “The Cathedral”, in James Thomas Fields, editor, The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXV, number CXLVII, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2

2. obsoleteA wandering; a vagary.

   [T]he Scots had some leasure to plaie their vagues

   1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC

present singular third person vagues · participle present vaguing · participle past vagued · past vagued

1. archaicto wander; to roam; to stray.

   [The soul] doth vague and wander.

   1603, Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, commonly called, the Morals

2. To become vague or act in a vague manner.

   What's with you? You're all vagued out.

   2009, Zoe Foster Blake, Air Kisses, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Vaguely, yes. I've vagued all my life; that's been my curse.

   1894, Mrs. Campbell Praed, Christina Chard, page 52

   A man's mind vagued up a little, for how can you remember the feel of pleasure or pain or choking emotion?

   1939, John Steinbeck, East of Eden

3. InternetintransitiveTo make vague negative comments publicly; to make highly veiled complaints or insults.

   Synonyms: vaguepost