vague

See also: vagué

English

Etymology

From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, strolling, fig. uncertain, vague”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /veɪɡ/
  • IPA(key): (Upper Midwest US) /væɡ/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪɡ, -æɡ

Adjective

vague (comparative vaguer, superlative vaguest)

  1. Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
    • 1921, Bertrand Russell, The Analysis of Mind:
      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.
    • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
      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.
  2. Not having a precise meaning.
    a vague term of abuse
  3. Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.
    only a vague notion of what’s needed;  a vague hint of a thickening waistline;  I haven’t the vaguest idea.
  4. Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.
    a vague longing
  5. Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Philip Larkin, Toads Revisited
      Waxed-fleshed out-patients / Still vague from accidents, / And characters in long coats / Deep in the litter-baskets […]
  6. Lacking expression; vacant.
  7. Not sharply outlined; hazy.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      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.
  8. Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Sir John Hayward
      to set upon the vague villains
    • 1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: Printed [by Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, OCLC 927360557, stanza VIII, page 87:
      She danced along with vague, regardless eyes, / Anxious her lips, her breathing quick and short: [...]

Synonyms

Translations
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Translations to be checked

Noun

vague (plural vagues)

  1. (obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holinshed to this entry?)
  2. An indefinite expanse.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Lowell
      The gray vague of unsympathizing sea.

Verb

vague (third-person singular simple present vagues, present participle vaguing, simple past and past participle vagued)

  1. (archaic) to wander; to roam; to stray.
    • Holland
      [The soul] doth vague and wander.
  2. To become vague or act in a vague manner.
    • 1894, Mrs. Campbell Praed, Christina Chard, page 52:
      Vaguely, yes. I've vagued all my life; that's been my curse.
    • 1939, John Steinbeck, East of Eden:
      A man's mind vagued up a little, for how can you remember the feel of pleasure or pain or choking emotion?
    • 2009, Zoe Foster Blake, Air Kisses, →ISBN:
      What's with you? You're all vagued out.

Further reading
  • vague in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • vague in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • vague at OneLook Dictionary Search

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin vagus.

Pronunciation
  • (Balearic) IPA(key): /ˈva.ɡə/
  • (Central) IPA(key): /ˈba.ɡə/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈva.ɡe/

Adjective

vague (feminine vaga, masculine and feminine plural vagues)

  1. vague

Derived terms

Further reading

French

Etymology 1

From Middle French, from Old French vague (“movement on the surface of a liquid, ripple”), from Old Norse vágr (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“wave, storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵhe- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with Swedish våg (“wave”), Middle Dutch waeghe, wage (“wave”), Old High German wāge (“wave”), Old English wǣg (“wave, billow, motion, flood”). More at waw, wave.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /vaɡ/
  • Audio (FR)(file)

Noun

vague f (plural vagues)

  1. wave

Etymology 2

From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, strolling, fig. uncertain, vague”).

Adjective

vague (plural vagues)

  1. vague

Noun

vague m (plural vagues)

  1. vagueness
Synonyms

Further reading

Galician

Verb

vague

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of vagar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of vagar

Portuguese

Verb

vague

  1. First-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of vagar
  2. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você?) present subjunctive of vagar
  3. First-person singular (eu) affirmative imperative of vagar
  4. Third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of vagar
  5. Third-person singular (você) negative imperative of vagar

Spanish

Verb

vague

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of vagar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of vagar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of vagar.
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