nebulous

[neb-yuh-luhs]

adjective

1. hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused.

   a nebulous recollection of the meeting; a nebulous distinction between pride and conceit.

2. cloudy or cloudlike.

3. of or resembling a nebula or nebulae in deep space; nebular.

nebulous

/ ˈnɛbjʊləs /

adjective

1. lacking definite form, shape, or content; vague or amorphous

   nebulous reasons

2. of, characteristic of, or resembling a nebula

3. rare,  misty or hazy

Other Word Forms

• nebulously adverb
• nebulousness noun
• nonnebulous adjective
• nonnebulously adverb
• nonnebulousness noun
• quasi-nebulous adjective
• quasi-nebulously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of nebulous¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin nebulōsus “full of mist, foggy, cloudy,” from nebul(a) “cloud, mist, vapor” ( nebula ) + -ōsus -ous

Example Sentences

At the finish line is the prize of “artificial general intelligence”—a nebulous term that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has defined as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This time the White House is leading the charge against the nebulous left, empowering modern McCarthy-equivalents like Carr to do his bidding.

Read more on Salon

France is also facing a day of protests on Wednesday from a nebulous grassroots movement called Bloquons Tout - "Let's Block Everything", and authorities are planning to deploy 80,000 police.

Read more on BBC

Then there are the missing details about the nature of the screen time itself: the term is far too nebulous, argues Prof Etchells.

Read more on BBC

Soon, it felt like there was a nebulous wall between the two of us, fluid enough that we could reach across to one another but too thick to make contact.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• ambiguous 
• amorphous 
• hazy 
• imprecise 
• murky 
• shadowy 
• vague