Vague vs Ague - What's the difference?
vague | ague |
Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
*
*2004: , Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
*:Throughout the first week of his presidency, Dulles and Bissell continued to brief Kennedy on their strategy for Cuba, but the men were vague and their meetings offered little in the way of hard facts.
Not having a precise meaning.
:
Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.
:
Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.
:
Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
Lacking expression; vacant.
Not sharply outlined; hazy.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title=
, passage=He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.}}
Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
*Sir (c.1564-1627)
*:to set upon the vague villains
*(John Keats) (1795-1821)
*:She danced along with vague , regardless eyes.
(obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
An indefinite expanse.
* Lowell
To wander; to roam; to stray.
* Holland
(obsolete) An acute fever.
* Brenning agues. —P. Plowman.
(pathology) An intermittent fever, attended by alternate cold and hot fits.
The cold fit or rigor of the intermittent fever; as, fever and ague.
A chill, or state of shaking, as with cold.
(obsolete) Malaria.
Sad mortals! thus the Gods still plague you!
He lost his labour, I my jest:
For he was drowned, and I've the ague * 1852 : *: 'Ague and lake fever had attacked our new settlement. The men in the shanty were all down with it, and my husband was confined to his bed on each alternate day, unable to raise hand or foot, and raving in the delirium of the fever.' * 1867 : , 1867 Edition, chapter III. *: He shivered all the while so violently, that it was quite as much as he could do to keep the neck of the bottle between his teeth, without biting it off.
"I think you have got the ague'," said I.
"I'm much of your opinion, boy," said he.
"It's bad about here," I told him. "You've been lying out on the meshes, and they're dreadful ' aguish . Rheumatic too." * 1969 : , p. 200. *: He had to capture some character and get out of that rest room before his ague got so bad that the sergeant had to carry him to and from the booth every day. To strike with an ague, or with a cold fit.
In obsolete terms the difference between vague and ague
is that vague is a wandering; a vagary while ague is malaria.As an adjective vague
is not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.vague
English
Adjective
(er)“Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/2
Synonyms
* obscure * ambiguousNoun
(en noun)- (Holinshed)
- The gray vague of unsympathizing sea.
Verb
(vagu)- [The soul] doth vague and wander.
External links
* * * ----ague
English
Noun
(en noun)- (Dryden)
Usage notes
The pronunciation is the correct pronunciation.Quotations
* 1810 : Lord Byron, "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" *: 'Twere hard to say who fared the best:Sad mortals! thus the Gods still plague you!
He lost his labour, I my jest:
For he was drowned, and I've the ague * 1852 : *: 'Ague and lake fever had attacked our new settlement. The men in the shanty were all down with it, and my husband was confined to his bed on each alternate day, unable to raise hand or foot, and raving in the delirium of the fever.' * 1867 : , 1867 Edition, chapter III. *: He shivered all the while so violently, that it was quite as much as he could do to keep the neck of the bottle between his teeth, without biting it off.
"I think you have got the ague'," said I.
"I'm much of your opinion, boy," said he.
"It's bad about here," I told him. "You've been lying out on the meshes, and they're dreadful ' aguish . Rheumatic too." * 1969 : , p. 200. *: He had to capture some character and get out of that rest room before his ague got so bad that the sergeant had to carry him to and from the booth every day.