vague

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /veɪɡ/
• (Canada, Upper Midwestern US) IPA^(key): /væɡ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɡ, -æɡ

Adjective

vague (comparative vaguer, superlative vaguest)

1. Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.

   Synonyms: inarticulate, unclear; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   • 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.

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal

   a vague term of abuse

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

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal, indistinct, obscure; see also Thesaurus:vague

   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

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XL, page 62:

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

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

   Synonym: dazed

   • 1962, 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.

   Synonyms: vacant, vacuous

7. Not sharply outlined; hazy.

   Synonyms: fuzzy, hazy, ill-defined; see also Thesaurus:indistinct

   • 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.

   Synonyms: erratic, roaming, unsettled, vagrant, vagabond

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

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

   • 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:

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

Related terms

Translations

Noun

vague (plural vagues)

1. (obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande , volume I, London: for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

     the Scots had some leasure to plaie their vagues

2. An indefinite expanse.
   • 1870, James Russell Lowell, The Cathedral:

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

     [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.

3. (Internet slang, intransitive) To make vague negative comments publicly; to make highly veiled complaints or insults.

   Synonym: vaguepost

Further reading

• “vague”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “vague”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “vague”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vagus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Adjective

vague (feminine vaga, masculine and feminine plural vagues)

1. vague

Derived terms

• vagament

Further reading

• “vague” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “vague”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “vague” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “vague” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaɡ/

• Audio (FR)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited 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 *weǵʰ- (“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.

Noun

vague f (plural vagues)

1. wave
   • 2014, Indila, Comme un bateau:

     Un peu comme un bateau qui trouve son équilibre entre les vagues et le chaos

     A little like a boat that finds its equilibrium between waves and chaos

Derived terms

• creux de la vague
• faire des vagues
• nouvelle vague
• vague de chaleur
• vague de froid
• vaguelette
• vaguette

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle French vague, borrowed from Latin vagus (“uncertain, vague”, literally “wandering, rambling, strolling”). Possibly a doublet of gai.

Adjective

vague (plural vagues)

1. vague

Noun

vague m (plural vagues)

1. vagueness

   Synonym: distrait

Derived terms

• terrain vague
• vague à l’âme
• vaguement

Further reading

• “vague”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Galician

Verb

vague

1. inflection of vagar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

vague

1. inflection of vagar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɡe/
• Rhymes: -aɡe
• Syllabification: va‧gue

Verb

vague

1. inflection of vagar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative