vaporous

American  

[vey-per-uhs] / ˈveɪ pər əs /

adjective

1. having the form or characteristics of vapor.

   a vaporous cloud.

2. full of or abounding in vapor; foggy; misty.

   a vaporous twilight.

3. producing or giving off vapor.

   a vaporous bog.

4. dimmed or obscured with vapor.

   a low valley surrounded by vaporous mountains.

5. unsubstantial; diaphanous; airy.

   vaporous fabrics; vaporous breezes.

6. vaguely formed, fanciful, or unreliable.

   vaporous promises.

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vaporous British  

/ ˈveɪpərəs, ˌveɪpəˈrɒsɪtɪ /

adjective

1. resembling or full of vapour

2. another word for vaporific

3. lacking permanence or substance; ephemeral or fanciful

4. given to foolish imaginings

5. dulled or obscured by an atmosphere of vapour

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Other Word Forms

• nonvaporosity noun
• nonvaporous adjective
• nonvaporously adverb
• nonvaporousness noun
• unvaporosity noun
• unvaporous adjective
• unvaporously adverb
• unvaporousness noun
• vaporosity noun
• vaporously adverb
• vaporousness noun

Etymology

Origin of vaporous

First recorded in 1520–30; vapor + -ous

Explanation

Vaporous means foggy, or made of gas. On a misty morning, the cool, vaporous air by the sea might send you back home for a raincoat. In science, this adjective is used for gases, including the vaporous water detected in the atmosphere of a distant planet, or the invisible swirl of vaporous wax that hovers above a lit candle. When the air feels vaporous, it's either foggy or extremely humid. Something that seems to lack real substance can also be described this way, like your vaporous plan to bike across the U.S., quickly abandoned as you realized how difficult it would be.

Example Sentences

Hope needed a name and a shape, and what followed was anything but vaporous feelings.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2024

"We let the biology do the harder job of converting information about vaporous chemicals into an electrical neural signal," Raman said.

From Science Daily • Jan. 26, 2024

But the heroine of “Coppelia” isn’t anything like the unattainable sylph of “La Sylphide” or the vaporous Wili of “Giselle.”

From New York Times • Dec. 18, 2023

Both photographs reveal an almost football-shaped cloud of smooth, vaporous material wrapped in sharper, wispy multicolored tendrils.

From Scientific American • Nov. 10, 2023

Lady Constance exclaimed, clapping her hands and whirling her skirts in the vaporous air.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood