Indistinct

Definition: Indistinct

Indistinct

Adjective

1. Not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand; "indistinct shapes in the gloom"; "an indistinct memory"; "only indistinct notions of what to do".

Date "indistinct" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Indistinct \In`dis*tinct"\, adjective. [Latin expression indistinctus: compare to the French expression indistinct. See In- not, and Distinct.]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definitions
Dream Interpretation	If in your dreams you see objects indistinctly, it portends unfaithfulness in friendships, and uncertain dealings. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Indistinct

Synonyms: confused, indefinite, indistinguishable, obscure, uncertain, vague. (additional references)

Antonym: distinct (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Uncertainty	Vague; indeterminate, indefinite; ambiguous, equivocal; undefined, undefinable; confused; (indistinct); mystic, oracular; dazed.
Unintelligibility	Indefinite, garbled; (indistinct); perplexed; (confused); undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical; acroamatic, acroamatical; metempirical; transcendental; occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Indistinct

English words defined with "indistinct": Anarthrous ♦ bedimmed, blear, bleary, blob, blur, blurred, blurriness, blurry ♦ canal, collared peccary, confuse ♦ dim, dimly ♦ fogginess, foggy, fuzz, fuzziness, fuzzy ♦ gabble, grumble, grumbling ♦ hazily, hazy ♦ indistinctly, indistinctness, Indistinguished ♦ jabber, jabbering, javelina ♦ Liturate, Looming ♦ Mark Rothko, mumbling, murmur, murmuration, murmuring, mussitation, mutter, muttering, Mutteringly, muzzy ♦ Nebulated, noise ♦ Oblite, obscure, Obscure rays, obscureness, obscurity ♦ Peccari angulatus, Psellism ♦ Rothko ♦ slur, susurrant, susurration ♦ Tayassu angulatus, Tayassu tajacu ♦ whispering. (references)

Specialty definitions using "indistinct": clouded agate ♦ Lymphoma, Undifferentiated ♦ nebulite ♦ pressure figure ♦ Reading ♦ Village. (references)

Etymologies containing "indistinct": Asaphus ♦ Indistinguished. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Indistinct" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

French (inarticulate, indefinite, indistinct, indistinctive, loom, obscure, shadowy, vague), Romanian (blurred, faint, hazy, indistinct).

Domain	Title
Books	Indistinct Appearance (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	This large (7 by 11 mm) macular lesion displays an irregular, scalloped border, which is indistinct in some areas. In addition to hues of tan and brown, several pink areas (arrows) are present. The presence of pink colors in the macular portion of a melanocytic nevus is quite distinctive for dysplastic nevi.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.		The central portion of this mole is a complex papule. The periphery of the lesion is macular, irregular, indistinct and slightly pink.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.
	This lesion has a dark brown, "pebbly" elevated surface against a lighter tan, macular background. The irregular, indistinct margin of the nevus helps to distinguish it from the small congenital-pattern nevus, which some dysplastic nevi closely resemble clinically. Its distinctive morphology, not its size (6 by 6 mm), identifies it as a dysplastic nevus.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Date	Quotation
Communist Manifesto	1848	The practical measures proposed in them -- -such as the abolition of the distinction between town and country, of the family, of the carrying on of industries for the account of private individuals, and of the wage system, the proclamation of social harmony, the conversion of the functions of the State into a mere superintendence of production, all these proposals, point solely to the disappearance of class antagonisms which were, at that time, only just cropping up, and which, in these publications, are recognised in their earliest, indistinct and undefined forms only. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	Glimpses were caught of the lineaments, still indistinct and scarcely visible, of a possible revolution.
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	The vowel was so modified as to be indistinct.
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	A wind, gentle and sighing, blew in puffs from the southwest, and the mountains on both sides of the great valley were indistinct in a pearly mist.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	It were well, he said, to be there early, and anticipate certain indistinct but wholly unjust claims on the score of ground rent and fuel.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Jimmy Carter	1977-1981	The words they made so vivid are now growing faintly indistinct, because they are not heard often enough.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Indistinct" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Indistinct" is used about 109 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	109	31,132

Expression using "indistinct": become indistinct. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "indistinct"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		i turbullt (blank, cloudy, dim, dimmish, dreamy, dull, dusky, feculent, foggy, lax, misty, muddy, obscure, shadowy, thick, turbid, turbulent, vague, woozy), i paqartë (abstract, dark, dim, doubtful, dubious, dusky, evasive, inarticulate, indefinite, indeterminate, muddy, nebulous, obscure, out of focus, recondite, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undistinguishable, undistinguished, unknowable, unreadable, vague), i padallueshëm (indiscernible, indistinctive, indistinguishable, insensible, invisible, undistinguishable, undistinguished), i padalluar (undistinguished), që s'dëgjohet mirë. (various references)

Arabic		‏غير متميز, ‏غير واضح (cloudy, dull, foggy, fuzziness, fuzzy, inconspicuous, indefinite, nebulous, unclear, vague), ‏غامض (abstruse, ambiguous, cloudy, deep, dim, double faced, dreamy, enigmatic, evasive, fuzzy, grave, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinguishable, inscrutable, intangible, lax, magic, magical, misty, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque, puzzling, recondite, secret, shady, sketchy, slippery, sloppy, uncertain, unintelligible, vague, woolly), ‏باهت (dim, dull, faint, lank, pale, pallid, wan, washed out). (various references)

Bulgarian		смътен (cloudy, dreamy, indefinable, indefinite, misty, obscure, remote, shadowy, sneaking, unformed, vague), неясен (abstruse, ambiguous, amorphous, blear, bleary, confused, crepuscular, dark, doubtful, dreamy, dusk, fuzzy, hazy, illegible, inarticulate, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, intangible, involved, inward, loose, misty, muddy, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, pale, recondite, shadowy, soft, transcendental, ulterior, unclear, undecided, unformed, vague, vapory, vapoury, wan, woolly), неопределен (ambiguous, amorphous, formless, inconclusive, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, inexplicit, infinitive, loose, neutral, nondescript, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, unidentified, vague). (various references)

Chinese		隐隐绰绰, 隱約 (faint, vague), 緲 , 縹 (misty), 僾 (hazy), 朦 (deceive), 惚 , 怳 (disappointed, flurried), 模糊 (fuzzy, vague), 恍 (disappointed, flurried). (various references)

Czech		nezřetelný (obscure, unclear, vague, woolly), nejasný (abstruse, ambiguous, dim, dimmish, equivocal, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, misty, obscure, stolid, tenuous, unclear, vague, woolly). (various references)

Danish		utydelig. (various references)

Dutch		vaag, troebel (cloudy, dull, muddy, turbid), duister (dark, darkness, dim, murk). (various references)

Esperanto		malklara. (various references)

Faeroese		kámur, óskilligur, ógreiður (dull, obtuse). (various references)

Farsi		نامعلوم (Conditional, Equivocal, Hazy, Incalculable, Inconspicuous, Indescribable, Invisible, Pendant, Uncertain, Uncharted, Unknown, Unlimited), ناشنوا, غیرروشن , تیره (Black, Caliginous, Dark, Gloomy, Heavy, Ilk, Lurid, Muddy, Murky, Nebulous, Obscure, Overcast, Thick, Turbid), اهسته (Gentle, Gradual, Languid, Light, Low, Slow), درهم (Mesh, Mixed, Shaggy). (various references)

Finnish		epäselvä (confused, foul, hazy, illegible, not clear, obscure). (various references)

French		trouble, touffu, confu. (various references)

German		unklar (blurred, cloudy, doubtful, equivocal, equivocally, foggy, foul, hazy, incoherent, indefinite, indefinitely, indeterminate, indistinctly, inexplicit, misty, murky, nebulous, nondistinctive, obscure, obscurely, opaque, sketchy, unclarified, unclear, vague, woolly). (various references)

Greek		μη ευκρινήσ, ασαφήσ (ambiguous, blear, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, inexplicit, misty, vague), αδιάκριτοσ (curious, indiscreet, presuming, snooper). (various references)

Hebrew		לא ברור (inarticulate, unclear). (various references)

Hungarian		zavaros (ambiguous, bleary, blurred, chaotic, cloudy, confused, feculent, fustian, haywire, hugger-mugger, incoherent, intricate, motley, muddled, muddling, muddy, obscure, puddly, rambling, roily, troubled, troublous, turbid), homályos (abstruse, apocalyptic, bleary, blurred, cloudy, darksome, dim, dusk, dusky, equivocal, foggy, frosted, fuzzy, gloomy, hazy, indistinctive, lustreless, misty, murky, nebulous, oblique, obscure, recondite, shadowy, shady, shape, stygian, transcendental, twilit, unclear, vague), határozatlan (equivocal, hesitant, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, infirm, invertebrate, irresolute, obscure, shilly shally, shilly-shally, to be on the hedge, transcendental, undecided, undecisive, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, weak-kneed). (various references)

Indonesian		sayup-sayup (blurred, faintly heard, scarcely). (various references)

Italian		indistinto (dim, fuzzy, hazy, inarticulate, nebulous, shadowy, undistinguishable, unemphatic, unexplicit, vague), confuso (abashed, addled, confounded, confused, dazed, fuzzy, haywire, hazy, higgledy-piggledy, hugger mugger, messy, pell mell, perplexed, promiscuous, shamefaced, upset, woolly, wooly). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		朦朧 (ambiguous, dim, faint, hazy, vague), 幽微 (dim), 幽か (dim, faint, hazy, poor, weak, wretched), 微か (dim, faint, hazy, poor, weak, wretched), 仄か (faint, few, stupid), 不文明 (obscure), 不明 (ambiguous, anonymous, ignorant, lack of wisdom, obscure, uncertain, unidentified, unknown), 側か (faint, few, stupid). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ふぶ�"めい (obscure, vague), ふめい (ambiguous, anonymous, ignorant, lack of wisdom, obscure, uncertain, unidentified, unknown), ほのか (faint, few, stupid), かすか (dim, faint, hazy, poor, weak, wretched), ゆうび (dim, elegance, grace, refinement), もうろう (ambiguous, dim, faint, hazy, vague). (various references)

Korean		불명료한 (illegible). (various references)

Manx		neuvaghtal (abstruse, imperceptible, inconspicuous, vague), neuchronnal (camouflaged, garbled, imperceptible, inconspicuous, indistinguishable, sketchy, unclear, vague). (various references)

Norwegian		utydelig. (various references)

Pig Latin		indistinctay

Portuguese		insolúvel (insoluble, irresolvable), indistinto (dim, fuzzy, he, inartificial, incomparable, lax, misunderstand, mum, nebulous, thick, tight lipped). (various references)

Romanian		indistinct (blurred, faint, hazy), vag (dim, distant, dull, dusty, evasive, evasively, faint, general, hazy, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminate, lax, loose, loosely, misty, muddy, nebulous, remote, shadowy, sketchy, slight, vague, washy), obscur (abstruse, cloudy, confused, dark, darksome, dim, dull, entangled, foggy, gloomy, murk, obscure, obscurely, recondite, tenebrous, unknown, unnoticed), nedesluşit (dull, indefinite, indistinctly, loose, obscure), neclar (blind, cloudy, confused, dark, darkly, difficult, diffuse, dim, dull, feeble, foggy, gloomily, hazy, inarticulate, inexplicit, lax, muddy, obscurely, vague, vaguely). (various references)

Russian		неясный (ambiguous, cloudy, dicey, dimmish, dreamy, dubious, dull, esoteric, faint, inexplicit, misty, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, recondite, shady, unaccounted-for, unarticulate, unarticulated, unclear). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nerazgovetan (obscure, slurred), nejasan (abstruse, bleary, blurred, dim, fuzzy, hazy, indistinctive, nebulous, obscure, recondite, unclear, undetermined, vague). (various references)

Spanish		indistinto (dim, faint, indiscriminate, undistinguishable, unemphatic, unexplicit, vague), borroso (bleary, blurred, faint, fuzzy, muzzy, smudgy, vague). (various references)

Swedish		oklar (cloudy, dim, fuzzy, incoherent, indefinite, misty, nebulous, obscure, opaque, sketchy, unclear, woolly), otydlig (bleary, diaphanous, faint, inarticulate, inexplicit, muzzy, obscure, vague). (various references)

Turkish		hayal meyal (dreaming, dreamy, fuzzy, indistinctly, misty, shadowy, vague), bulanık (blurred, blurry, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dim, filmy, foggy, hazy, mackled, misty, muddy, murky, out of focus, troubled, turbid), belli belirsiz (dreaming, dreamy, faint, hardly visible, imperceptible, indistinctly, insensible, nebulous, nebulously, shadowy, slight, slightly, soft, tentative, vaguely), belirsiz (ambiguous, backhanded, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dubious, dusty, equivocal, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, in the balance, indefinable, indefinite, indescribable, indeterminate, inglorious, lax, misty, obscure, off color, off colour, precarious, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undetermined, unsettled, vague). (various references)

Turkmen		dьkьrdemek (make an indistinct noise, stomp). (various references)

Ukranian		розпливчастий (blurred, deliquescent, flabby, loose, nebulous), неясний (abstruse, ambiguous, amorphous, blear, blind, blurred, chancy, darkling, doubtful, dusk, faint, fuzzy, hazy, misty, nebulose, nebulous, nubilous, obscure, opaque, oracular, oraculous, recondite, shadowy, transcendental, unaccounted for, unclear, undistinguished, woolly, wooly). (various references)

Vietnamese		phảng phất, lờ mờ (adumbration, dim, dreamy, dubious, dusty, indeterminate, vague), không rõ r� ng (dark, darkly, ill-defined, indefinite, indescribable, loose, unprecise, woolly). (various references)

Welsh		myngus (mumbling), brith (brindled, gray, grey, motley, mottled, speckled, vague), bloesg (faltering, lisping), aneglur (illegible, obscure, unclear). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	confusa, confusi, confusum, confusus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "indistinct": indistinctive, indistinctly, indistinctness, indistinctnesses. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "indistinct" (pronounced i'ndusti"ngkt)
6	-s t i" ng k t	distinct, extinct.
4	-i" ng k t	blinked, interlinked, linked, succinct, winked.
3	-ng k t	adjunct, banked, blanked, cranked, debunked, defunct, dunked, flanked, flunked, franked, hoodwinked, instinct, junked, outflanked, plunked, precinct, ranked, sacrosanct, spanked, tanked, thanked, yanked.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-d-i-i-i-n-n-s-t-t"
	-2 letters: distinct, instinct.
	-3 letters: indicts.
	-4 letters: indict, tincts.
	-5 letters: dints, disci, intis, nitid, stint, tinct, tints, titis.
	Words containing the letters "c-d-i-i-i-n-n-s-t-t"
	+1 letter: distinction.
	+2 letters: distinctions, indistinctly.
	+3 letters: discontinuity, indistinctive, interdictions.
	+4 letters: indistinctness, nondistinctive.
	+5 letters: clandestinities, discontinuation, discontinuities, disintoxicating, disintoxication, distinctiveness, identifications, indeterministic, indoctrinations.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.