Meaning of vague in English

vague

adjective

/veɪɡ/ us

/veɪɡ/

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not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided:

I do have a vague memory of meeting her many years ago.

The patient had complained of vague pains and backache.

not clear in shape, or not clearly seen:

Through the mist I could just make out a vague figure.

A vague person is not able to think clearly, or gives an impression of not thinking clearly in order to hide their real thoughts:

My aunt is incredibly vague - she can never remember where she puts things.

Their report is studiously/deliberately vague on future economic prospects.

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The rules are vague and open to interpretation.
I have only a vague notion of what she does for a living.
I had a vague idea that she lived in Liverpool.
His writings are rather vague on the subject of his marriage.
Our teacher is so vague and disorganized.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Uncertainty

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Indistinct & invisible

Difficult to understand

vaguely

adverb uk

/ˈveɪɡ.li/ us

/ˈveɪɡ.li/

I vaguely remembered having met her before.

"He's around somewhere," she said, gesturing vaguely.

vagueness

noun [ U ] uk

/ˈveɪɡ.nəs/ us

/ˈveɪɡ.nəs/

Given the vagueness of the directions, I think we did very well to find the place.

Grammar

Downtoners

Downtoners are words or phrases which reduce the force of another word or phrase. Downtoning is the opposite of emphasising. The most common downtoners are: …

Downtoners: using vague language

We use vague language such as kind of…, sort of … or the suffix -ish to reduce the force of a word or phrase: …

Vague expressions

Vague language is very common, especially in speaking. We often add words and phrases such as about, kind of, sort of, and that kind of thing to make what we say less factual and direct: …

(Definition of vague from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

vague | American Dictionary

vague

adjective [ -er/-est only ]

/veɪɡ/

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not clearly stated, described, or explained, or not clearly seen or felt:

She had a vague feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

I have only a vague memory of the house where I lived as a child.

A person who is vague is not able or does not wish to state, describe, or explain something clearly:

Officials were vague about the ship’s location.

vaguely

adverb us

/ˈveɪɡ·li/

She stood in silence for several minutes, only vaguely aware of the people around her.

(Definition of vague from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of vague

vague

Their formulation is vague and the arbitrary three-dimensional plots intended as abstract representations of the global array are not particularly informative.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But even then, it did so only in terms that were vague and imprecise.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Traditionally, there are three dimensions, but this rests on rather vague introspective intuitions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Many readers may find this too vague and nondirective a conclusion, but it may also be the most honest and potentially motivational conclusion available.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Their statements were often suitably vague about just what proportion of the timber would be devoted to meeting the demands of the state.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Criteria of individuation may be vague, but they are not totally elastic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That "excellence" is left deliberately vague, so as to allude to intellectual and moral aspirations in addition to artistic ones.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The result of the meeting was a vague agreement that the states would maintain a broad front against plans to sweep aside their rights.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Furthermore, the line separating what was useful from what was useless was extremely vague.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The long awaited anti-nuclear reform came to an end without any achievement except for some vague promises from the government.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The proposed theory is ad hoc and confirmatory in its findings; vague and generic in its claims; and unjustified and unnecessary in its (putative) novelty.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This market still is not aligned with any series, and even the time horizon is kept somewhat vague.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They used vague words such as we want "somewhat less ease," or "gradually move toward tightness," and so on.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Yet, so long as definitions remain vague and the compromise agenda focused on conservation can be invoked, support for the latter is not ruled out.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In terms of, with terms generalized to create a vague all-purpose connective, is currently popular, and frequently criticized.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of vague?

What is the pronunciation of vaguely?

What is the pronunciation of vagueness?