nebulous
Americanadjective
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hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused.
a nebulous recollection of the meeting; a nebulous distinction between pride and conceit.
-
cloudy or cloudlike.
-
of or resembling a nebula or nebulae in deep space; nebular.
adjective
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lacking definite form, shape, or content; vague or amorphous
nebulous reasons
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of, characteristic of, or resembling a nebula
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rare misty or hazy
Other Word Forms
- nebulously adverb
- nebulousness noun
- nonnebulous adjective
- nonnebulously adverb
- nonnebulousness noun
- quasi-nebulous adjective
- quasi-nebulously adverb
Etymology
Origin of nebulous
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We play by a code of conduct, that nebulous thing we have reified as “international law.”
Since the last conscript passed out in 2001 there have been various, nebulous attempts to retain something of the spirit of military service, which proponents said fostered a sense of cohesion and equality.
From BBC
The museum’s nebulous, careful positioning in many ways mirrors the politics that may have buried Kelly’s and Johnson’s involvement six decades ago.
From Los Angeles Times
No business could be more objective than money management, and yet even in this business, facts and logic were overwhelmed by the nebulous social dimension of things.
From Literature
All of that will be hard to do if they’re also shoveling billions of pounds into a nebulous “energy transition.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
