vagueness
AmericanExplanation
Vagueness is a state of being unclear or uncertain. The vagueness of your directions won't be very helpful to the lost pedestrian who's trying to find the closest subway station. If your parents ask what time you went to bed, you might say “nine-ish” and hope they don’t question your vagueness. Vagueness can also be visual, like the vagueness of shapes in the fog. The Latin root of vagueness, vagus literally means "wandering" and figuratively means "vacillating or uncertain."
Vocabulary lists containing vagueness
A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation
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The Suffix -ness, Part 3
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Novel Study: Invisible Man, Chapter 15–Epilogue
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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.
“It addresses the vagueness and all the specific questions we have as providers,” Epstein, the Little Rock doctor, said.
From Salon • May 27, 2026
The Department of Justice exploited that vagueness when it convinced a grand jury last October to charge James with bank fraud.
From Slate • May 1, 2026
Until now there has been a deliberate vagueness about what France regards as its "vital interests", an attack on which would trigger a nuclear response.
From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026
A U.S. official stressed to us the vagueness of that formulation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026
Like Mollie, he was struck by the peculiar vagueness of Lizzie’s sickness; no doctor had ever pinpointed what was causing it.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
