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Definitions: Vague |
VagueAdjective1. Not clearly understood or expressed; "an indeterminate turn of phrase"; "an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit"-Anatole Broyard; "their descriptions of human behavior become vague, dull, and unclear"- P.A.Sorokin; "vague...forms of speech...have so long passed for mysteries of science"- John Locke. 2. Not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished; "an undefined term"; "undefined authority"; "some undefined sense of excitement"; "vague feelings of sadness"; "a vague uneasiness". 3. Lacking clarity or distinctness; "a dim figure in the distance"; "only a faint recollection"; "shadowy figures in the gloom"; "saw a vague outline of a building through the fog"; "a few wispy memories of childhood". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "vague" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Synonyms: VagueSynonyms: dim (adj), faint (adj), indeterminate (adj), obscure (adj), shadowy (adj), undefined (adj), wispy (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: defined (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Reasoning, | Weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague. |
Supposition | Inkling, suggestion, hint, intimation, notion, impression; bare supposition, vague supposition, loose supposition, loose suggestion. |
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. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Believe me, I can be vague. (Analyze This; writing credit: Kenneth Lonergan; Peter Tolan) Oh son, you're too vague. (Ed Wood; writing credit: Scott Alexander) A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) That's just vague enough to work! (The Fairly OddParents; writing credit: Philippe Setbon) But I need a recommendation, Spock, not vague warnings. (Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before; writing credit: Samuel A. Peeples) | |
Lyrics | It's driven me before, and it seems to have a vague, ("Drive"; performing artist: Incubus) | |
Clever | If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Cinéma de notre temps: La première vague (1968) Terrain vague (1960) Après la Nouvelle Vague... Cinéma de notre temps: André Téchiné (1995) Nouvelle vague (1990) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Sanders Peirce | All the evolution we know of proceeds from the vague to the definite. |
Edgar Allan Poe | The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? |
Helen Keller | I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Roe v. Wade | 1973 | Ruling that declaratory, though not injunctive, relief was warranted, the court declared the abortion statutes void as vague and overbroadly infringing those plaintiffs' Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | Your question is painfully vague. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | There was a kind of vague ebb and flow in his brain. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | In a vague way he understood that his father was in trouble and that this was the reason why he himself had not been sent back to Clongowes. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He was about fifty, his whiskery face gaunt, and his open eyes were vague and staring. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Actually, the symptoms are usually mild and vague. (references) | |
Initial complaints in PSP are typically vague and an early diagnosis is always difficult. (references) | ||
Other signs and symptoms at this stage include vague abdominal pain, intestinal cramps, colic, and nausea. (references) | ||
Business | The mechanism is, however, still vague. (references) | |
It appears that companies wanting to export foodstuffs into the European market will have to define the origin of the product or that of many of its ingredients, in order to allow consumers to decide for themselves if they want to consume GMOs or food produced using GMOs. Estimates about the future for cultivating genetically modified plants in Germany can only be vague. (references) | ||
Children | Chile | UNICEF estimated in 1999 that there were roughly 10,000 child prostitutes between the ages of 6 and 18. The age of consent is 12 years; the law is vague regarding child prostitution above this age unless force, fraud, or abuse of authority can be proven. (references) |
Peru | However, during the year Congress increased the annual budget allocated to integrate persons with disabilities into the economy from $250,000 to $457,000. Although the law prohibits discrimination in the workplace, it is vague regarding the source of funds to pay for the human assistance, technological support, and environmental adaptations that often are necessary to enable workers with disabilities to be productive. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Singapore | The Government has absolute discretion in applying this broad, vague language to register or dissolve societies. (references) |
Economic History | Botswana | Botswana's Finance Minister, to whom PEEPA reports, continues to make vague and contradictory statements on the issue. (references) |
Indonesia | Laws and regulations are often vague and require substantial interpretation by implementing offices, leading to business uncertainty. (references) | |
Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan has made progress in creating a favorable investment climate although concerns, such as vague and contradictory laws, remain. (references) | |
Human Rights | Syria | Charges against defendants in the SSSC often are vague. (references) |
Pakistan | Many observers criticized the Supreme Court decision as vague and contradictory. (references) | |
Korea | Laws regarding arrest and detention often are vague, and prosecutors have wide latitude to interpret them. (references) | |
Minorities | Pakistan | Armed with this vague wording, mullahs have brought charges against Ahmadis for using standard Muslim salutations and for naming their children Mohammed. (references) |
Political Economy | URUGUAY | The law provides a lax definition of compulsory licensing and a vague determination of the "adequate remuneration" to be paid to the patent holder. (references) |
Syria | Although new amendments to the Press Law permitted government-approved private individuals and organizations to publish their own newspapers, the same amendments also stipulated imprisonment and stiff financial penalties as part of broad, vague provisions prohibiting the publication of "inaccurate" information. (references) | |
Trade | Poland | However, the law is not clear on this issue and guidance from the PCBC and other testing centers is vague. (references) |
Women | Thailand | NGO's claim that the term is vague and that such ambiguity makes the prosecution of harassment claims difficult. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Vague" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Vague" is used about 1,503 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% | 1,503 | 5,417 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "vague": a vague idea of ♦ be vague about smth. ♦ become vague ♦ i have a vague notion of it ♦ nouvelle Vague ♦ vague instructions ♦ vague prior ♦ vague rumor ♦ vague rumour ♦ vague supposition ♦ vague year. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "vague": vague-sided. | |
| 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. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
vague | 42 |
nouvelle vague | 12 |
de froid vague | 11 |
bright eyes lyrics something vague | 3 |
de film froid vague | 3 |
terrain vague | 2 |
piscine vague | 2 |
boule vague | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "vague"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i turbullt (blank, cloudy, dim, dimmish, dreamy, dull, dusky, feculent, foggy, indistinct, lax, misty, muddy, obscure, shadowy, thick, turbid, turbulent, woozy), i pasaktë (erroneous, fallible, false, improper, inaccurate, incorrect, inexact, inexplicit, lax, untrue), i paqartë (abstract, dark, dim, doubtful, dubious, dusky, evasive, inarticulate, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, muddy, nebulous, obscure, out of focus, recondite, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undistinguishable, undistinguished, unknowable, unreadable), i pacaktuar (indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, unsure), i mjegullt (foggy, hazy, misty, nebulous), i largët (distant, far, far off, faraway, long run, odd, off, out of the way, outer, remote, removed, slight, way out), i hutuar (abashed, absent, absentminded, bewildered, confused, disconcerted, distracted, dizzy, foggy, inadvertent, muddle-headed, perplexed, puzzle-headed, puzzle-pated). (various references) | |
Arabic | ملتبس (ambiguous, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, obscure, uncertain), مبهم (abstruse, ambiguous, cryptic, dark, dim, enigmatic, equivocal, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, inscrutable, misty, mysterious, mystic, obscure, recondite, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible), غير واضح (cloudy, dull, foggy, fuzziness, fuzzy, inconspicuous, indefinite, indistinct, nebulous, unclear), غامض (abstruse, ambiguous, cloudy, deep, dim, double faced, dreamy, enigmatic, evasive, fuzzy, grave, hazy, impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, inscrutable, intangible, lax, magic, magical, misty, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque, puzzling, recondite, secret, shady, sketchy, slippery, sloppy, uncertain, unintelligible, woolly). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | съмнителен (alleged, ambiguous, amphibious, dingy, disputable, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, fishy, fly-by-night, hedge, hole-and-corner, indeterminate, moot, off beat, phoney, precarious, problematic, queer, questionable, screwy, seedy, shady, shaky, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unsure), смътен (cloudy, dreamy, indefinable, indefinite, indistinct, misty, obscure, remote, shadowy, sneaking, unformed), неясно формулиран, неясно почувстван, неясно изразен, неясен (abstruse, ambiguous, amorphous, blear, bleary, confused, crepuscular, dark, doubtful, dreamy, dusk, fuzzy, hazy, illegible, inarticulate, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indistinct, intangible, involved, inward, loose, misty, muddy, muzzy, nebulous, obscure, pale, recondite, shadowy, soft, transcendental, ulterior, unclear, undecided, unformed, vapory, vapoury, wan, woolly), неопределен (ambiguous, amorphous, formless, inconclusive, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indistinct, inexplicit, infinitive, loose, neutral, nondescript, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, unidentified), двусмислен (ambiguity, ambiguous, dark, double, double meaning, double-barrelled, double-hearted, equivocal, oracular, two-edged). (various references) | |
Chinese | 隐晦, 隱約 (faint, indistinct), 茫 (vast), 糢糊 (foggy, murky), 縕 (generative force, hemp, mysterious, orange color), 泛 (float, general), 渺 (remote), 模糊 (fuzzy, indistinct), 含糊 (obscurity). (various references) | |
Czech | vágní (dim, hazy, impressionistic, lax, sloppy), nezřetelný (indistinct, obscure, unclear, woolly), neurèitý (ambiguous, impressionistic, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, intangible, undeclared), nepřesný (impressionistic, inaccurate, incorrect, inexact, looking forward, unfaithful, untrue, woolly), nejasný (abstruse, ambiguous, dim, dimmish, equivocal, faint, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, indistinct, misty, obscure, stolid, tenuous, unclear, woolly), mlhavý (dim, foggy, hazy, indefinite, misty, nebulous, vapoury), matný (dim, dull, frosted, lacklustre, opaque). (various references) | |
Danish | uklar kendt sandsynlighedstæthedsfunktion (diffuse prior, in Bayesian inference, vague prior), erindringsø (amnestic vague remebrance). (various references) | |
Dutch | schetsmatig (general), in het groot (general, wholesale), algemeen (common, general, joint, umbrella, universal, usual, worldwide). (various references) | |
Esperanto | maldetala (general). (various references) | |
Farsi | مبهم (Ambiguous, Dim, Dusky, Enigmatic, Esoteric, Imprecise, Misty, Mysterious, Obscure, Opaque), غیرمعلوم , سربسته وابهام دار. (various references) | |
Finnish | hatara (flimsy, loose, poorly constructed, ramshackle, unsubstantial), epämääräinen (hazy, indefinite, indeterminate, nondescript, uncertain, undetermined, woolly). (various references) | |
French | vague (vacant, vagueness), troublé, indistinct, indécis (vacillating), imprécis, flou, confus. (various references) | |
German | undeutlich (blurred, dimly, hazy, illegible, inarticulate, inarticulately, indefinite, indefinitely, indistinct, indistinctly, indistinguishable, muddled, mumblingly, obscure, obscurely, slurred, unarticulate, uncertain, unclear, undistinguishable, undistinguished, unemphatic, unexplicit), unklar (blurred, cloudy, doubtful, equivocal, equivocally, foggy, foul, hazy, incoherent, indefinite, indefinitely, indeterminate, indistinct, indistinctly, inexplicit, misty, murky, nebulous, nondistinctive, obscure, obscurely, opaque, sketchy, unclarified, unclear, woolly). (various references) | |
Greek | ακαθόριστοσ (amorphous, noncommittal, nondescript, unsettled), αόριστοσ (indefinite, indeterminate, intangible, preterit, undetermined), ασαφήσ (ambiguous, blear, fuzzy, hazy, indeterminate, indistinct, inexplicit, misty), αβέβαιοσ (equivocal, precarious, touch and go, uncertain, unsure). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מופשט (abstract, intangible, metaphysical), עמום (abstruse, dim, faint, frosting, fuzzy, muzzy, obscure, obtuse, opaque, tarnish), ערפילי (foggy, misty, nebulous), סתמי (indefinite, neutral), סתום (abstruse, blocked, closed, closing, congested, corking, incomprehensible, obscure, stopped up, stopping, vagueness). (various references) | |
Hungarian | bizonytalan (choppy, cranky, dicey, dim, dubious, elusive, equivocal, faint, faltering, fickle, have cold feet, hazy, hesitating, indefinite, indeterminate, insecure, irresolute, nondescript, obscure, pennky, precarious, questionable, sandy, scratchy, shaky, speculative, suspensive, to be in the air, to hang in the air, to hang in the balance, transcendental, uncertain, unsettled, unsteady, unsure, woozy). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tidak jelas (cryptic, inarticulate), samar-samar (blur, blurry, cryptic, vaguely), redam (dim, faint, hushed, muffled). (various references) | |
Italian | vago - incerto - indistinto - indeterminato - impreciso, vago (dim, dreamy, faint, hazy, indefinite, loose, nebulous, remote, undefined, undesignated, undetermined), sfocato (blurred, fuzzy, hazy, out of focus), nebuloso (hazy, nebulous), indistinto (dim, fuzzy, hazy, inarticulate, indistinct, nebulous, shadowy, undistinguishable, unemphatic, unexplicit), incerto (aleatory, borderline, dim, doubtful, dubious, in question, irresolute, open, questionable, shadowy, tentative, touch and go, uncertain, unclear, undecided, unsettled, unsure). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 然 (equivocal, obscure), 散漫 (desultory, diffuse, distracted, half-hearted, loose). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ばくぜ"たる (hazy, obscure), もうもうたる (dense, dim, thick), もうろう (ambiguous, dim, faint, hazy, indistinct), もうろうたる (dim, hazy, obscure), あやふや (ambiguous, uncertain), あいまい (ambiguous), あいまいも" (ambiguous, obscure), いいか'" (halfhearted, irresponsible, moderate, not thorough, random, right), にえきらない (half-cooked, halfhearted, indecisive), とりとめのない (incoherent, rambling, wandering, whimsical), ばくぜ" (equivocal, obscure), たよりない (flaky, forlorn, helpless, undependable, unreliable), ふとくようりょう (ambiguous, noncommittal), ふぶ"めい (indistinct, obscure), さ"ま" (desultory, diffuse, distracted, half-hearted, loose), ぼ"やり (absent-minded, block-head, dim, faint), ぼうばくたる (boundless, obscure, vast), くうばく (aerial bombing, vast), くうくうばくばく (boundless, empty, vast), なまにえ (ambiguous, half-cooked, immature, rare), ばくばく (obscure, vast). (various references) | |
Korean | 막연한 (undefinable). (various references) | |
Manx | neuvaghtal (abstruse, imperceptible, inconspicuous, indistinct), neuchruinn (hazy, inaccurate, inexact), neuchronnal (camouflaged, garbled, imperceptible, inconspicuous, indistinct, indistinguishable, sketchy, unclear), feayn (expansive, extensive, horizontal, roomy, vast, wide). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aguevay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vago (empty, faraway lands, fuzzy, general, half-light, hazy, indeclinable, indelibility, indescribable, indeterminate, jumbled up, lax, loose, nebulous, neutral country, remote, spare, transcendental, vacant), pouco seguro (pastel, rickety, unassured, unsafe, unsteady, untrustworthy, wonky), indeterminado (indefinite, indeterminate, neutral, non-ductile, undetermined, unsolved), indefinido (general, indefinite, indestructible, loose, neutral, unlimited), indeciso (blear, double-minded, doubtfully, drawn, feckless, fitful, half hearted, halve, indecisive, index, irresolution, laconic, pendant, pending, shilly shally, suspended, undecided, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, unsolved, unsteady, up in the air, vacillating, wavering), incapaz de uma decisão, impreciso (blear, fuzzy, hit-and-miss, impregnable, inaccurate, incorrect, indefinite, indeterminate, lacklustre, sketchy, wrong), geral (across the board, all purpose, broad, current, exoteric, gallery, general, multiracial, overhead, public, universal, usual, worldwide), aéreo (aerial, aery, airy, etherial, irresponsive, overground, overhead). (various references) | |
Romanian | vag (dim, distant, dull, dusty, evasive, evasively, faint, general, hazy, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, lax, loose, loosely, misty, muddy, nebulous, remote, shadowy, sketchy, slight, washy), pierdut (absent minded, blankly, far away, forfeit, gone, lost, missing, stray, wasted), nelãmurit (obscure, shadowy, uncertain, unenlightened, vaguely), nehotãrât (at pause, doubtful, dubitative, hesitating, indecisive, indefinite, infirm of purpose, irresolute, namby-pamby, pendent, pending, undecided), nedefinit (indefinite, nondescript, undefined), neclar (blind, cloudy, confused, dark, darkly, difficult, diffuse, dim, dull, feeble, foggy, gloomily, hazy, inarticulate, indistinct, inexplicit, lax, muddy, obscurely, vaguely), indefinit (dusty), indecis (irresolute), imprecis (unprecise), fantomatic (dreamlike, ghostlike, ghostly, phantom-like, spectral, spookish), difuz (diffuse, diffused, pale), confuz (abashed, addle, bewildered, blurred, chaotic, confused, crabbed, dim, embarrassed, faint, gloomily, hazy, hugger mugger, misty, muddy, muzzy, nebulous, stodgy, turbid, washy, wrongheaded), ceţos (brumous, dim, dull, filmy, foggy, hazy, misty, nebulous, vaporous). (various references) | |
Russian | неопределенный (atemporal, chancy, dusty, hazy, iffy, imponderable, imprecise, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, inexplicit, infinite, infinitive, lax, suspenseful, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, unspecified, unsure). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | nejasan (abstruse, bleary, blurred, dim, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, indistinctive, nebulous, obscure, recondite, unclear, undetermined), nebulozan (nebulous), maglovit (brumous, foggy, hazy, misty, muzzy, nebulous). (various references) | |
Spanish | vago (bone-idle, erratic, faint, idle, Idler, lazybones, loiterer, loose, nameless, shadowy, sketchy, slacker, slouch, sloven, tramp, truant, twilight, vacant), indistinto (dim, faint, indiscriminate, indistinct, undistinguishable, unemphatic, unexplicit), incierto (aleatory, broken, incertitude, indefinite, treacherous, uncertain), impreciso (imprecise, indefinite, loose), equívoco (ambiguity, ambiguous, double entendre, equivocal, equivocation, mistake, mistaken, non committal, pun, quibble), distraído (absent, absentminded, absent-minded, abstracted, amusing, casual, distracted, distrait, dreamy, entertaining, faraway, heedless, inattentive, lackadaisical, moony, unobservant, untidy, vacant, wandering), despistado (lackadaisical), de ideas poco precisas, borroso (bleary, blurred, faint, fuzzy, indistinct, muzzy, smudgy). (various references) | |
Swedish | vag (airy, diaphanous, foggy, impalpable, inarticulate, indefinite, indeterminate, intangible, loose, obscure, obtuse), svävande (flit, floating, hovering, indeterminate, pensile), otydlig (bleary, diaphanous, faint, inarticulate, indistinct, inexplicit, muzzy, obscure). (various references) | |
Turkish | müphem (ambiguous, undefined), kararsız (ambivalent, astatic, baffling, changeable, changeful, double-minded, doubtful, dubious, erratic, faltering, fickle, flighty, fluctuating, flukey, fluky, fluxional, halting, hazy, hesitant, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, infirm of purpose, irresolute, precarious, restless, shilly shally, uncertain, uncommitted, undecided, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, vagabond, wayward, weak-kneed), hayal meyal (dreaming, dreamy, fuzzy, indistinct, indistinctly, misty, shadowy), dalgın (absent, absent minded, abstracted, deep, distrait, dreamy, engrossed, far away, far off, faraway, glassy, lost, meditative, moony, pensive, plunged in thought, preoccupied, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, self-absorbed, stargazer, thoughtful, unheedful, vacant, vacuous, wandering, wistful, woolgathering), belirsiz (ambiguous, backhanded, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dubious, dusty, equivocal, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, in the balance, indefinable, indefinite, indescribable, indeterminate, indistinct, inglorious, lax, misty, obscure, off color, off colour, precarious, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undetermined, unsettled), anlaşılmaz (bottomless, clear as mud, complicated, deep, delphic, elusive, elusory, fathomless, impenetrable, inapprehensible, inarticulate, incomprehensible, inconceivable, inexplicable, inscrutable, intangible, obscure, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexed, puzzling, recondite, sphinxlike, unaccountable, uncanny, unintelligible, weird). (various references) | |
Turkmen | яaюyryn (stealthy). (various references) | |
Ukranian | неуважний (absent, absentminded, abstracted, careless, distrait, erratic, faraway, forgetful, inadvertent, inattentive, inconsiderate, incurious, inobservant, mused, neglectful, negligent, oblivious, oscitant, outward, unmindful), нерішучий (backward, double-minded, faltering, half hearted, hesitant, indecisive, irresolute, pendulous, shilly shally, sticky, suspensive, undecided, undetermined, unready, unresolved, unsteadfast, vacillating, wavery, weak), невизначений (ambiguous, indefinable, twilight, uncertain, undetermined, unsure). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | mơ h" (dark, darkly, dubious, foggy, indefinable, intangible, problematic, problematical, undefined), lờ mờ (adumbration, dim, dreamy, dubious, dusty, indeterminate, indistinct). (various references) | |
Welsh | brith (brindled, gray, grey, indistinct, motley, mottled, speckled), annelwig (shapeless, unformed), amhendant (indefinite). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | confusa, confusi, confusum, confusus, obscura, obscurior, obscuris, obscuro, obscurum, vagus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "vague": vaguely, vagueness, vaguenesses, vaguer, vaguest. (additional references) | |
| |
"Vague" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bageu, Dague, fague, lague, pague, vacu, vag, Vaga, vage, vaggie, vagued, vaguen, vagues, Vanua, vaque, varu, vau, vaue, vauel, vauge, vege, veque, veue, viaggio, Vigee, vigue, vigule, vigus, vogued, vogule, vuage. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "vague" (pronounced vā"g) |
| 2 | -ā" g | plague. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-g-u-v" | |
-1 letter: ague, gave, uvea. | |
-2 letters: age, ave, eau, gae, guv, vau, veg, vug. | |
-3 letters: ae, ag. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-g-u-v" | |
+1 letter: vaguer. | |
+2 letters: gravure, outgave, sevruga, vaguely, vaguest, vulgate. | |
+3 letters: burgrave, gravures, sevrugas, valguses, voyageur, vulgarer, vulgates. | |
+4 letters: burgraves, devaluing, purgative, quavering, revaluing, unavenged, unaverage, unweaving, upheaving, vagueness, voyageurs, vulgarest, vulgarise, vulgarize, waveguide. | |
+5 letters: eigenvalue, eluviating, evacuating, evaluating, exuviating, figurative, overslaugh, purgatives, regulative, subaverage, travelogue, unraveling, unwavering, vulgarised, vulgarises, vulgarized, vulgarizer, vulgarizes, waveguides. | |
| 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. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)56 61 67 75 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)...- .- --. ..- . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010110 01100001 01100111 01110101 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)V a g u e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0056 0061 0067 0075 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5667738771 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Historic 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
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