# vague

Pronunciation: say "VAYG" /veɪɡ/

## Adjective

1. Not clearly or precisely expressed; lacking specific detail or a definite meaning.
   - Simple: Not clear or exact, without details, so it is hard to know exactly what is meant.
   - _The minister gave a vague reply that committed him to nothing._
   - _Her instructions were too vague for the crew to follow safely._
2. Not clearly perceived, remembered, felt, or understood; indistinct or faint in the mind.
   - Simple: Not clear in your mind. Only partly remembered, understood, or felt.
   - _The witness could offer only a vague recollection of the driver's face._
   - _Most voters have only a vague understanding of what the city council actually does._
3. Not sharply outlined; blurred or hazy in appearance.
   - Simple: Without clear edges, so it looks blurry or hazy.
   - _Through the rain the streetlights were only vague smears of yellow._
   - _A vague smudge of land appeared where the coast should have been._
4. (Of a person or their manner) not thinking or expressing thoughts clearly; absent-minded, sometimes with a blank, vacant look.
   - Simple: Of a person: not thinking or speaking clearly, or not paying attention, often with an empty, distracted look.
   - _The professor was brilliant but maddeningly vague in conversation._
   - _He grew vague and distracted whenever the subject of work came up._

## Verb

5. To make veiled negative comments or complaints publicly, without naming the target. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To complain about someone in public without saying their name.
   - _Coworkers who vague on social media only poison the office mood._
   - _Instead of confronting him, she chose to vague in cryptic posts all week._
6. To become vague, or to behave in an unclear, unfocused way.
   - Simple: To start acting in an unclear or distant way.
   - _After the long drive, I vagued out on the couch and couldn't follow a word of the movie._
   - _She started to vague out halfway through the meeting, staring at the window instead of her notes._

## Adjective

7. Wandering or roaming; having no fixed home, like a vagrant. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Moving from place to place with no settled home.

## Verb

8. To wander, roam, or stray from place to place. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To wander or move around with no fixed path.

## Noun

9. An act of wandering; a vagary or whim. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A wandering trip, or a sudden change of plan or mind.

## Other meanings

- (noun) An indefinite, boundless expanse.

## Origin

Latin vagus meant "uncertain, vague," and literally "wandering, rambling, strolling." It passed into Middle French as vague, which English took over.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vague (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).