What is the difference between nebulous and vague?
nebulous | vague |
In the form of a cloud or haze; hazy.
Vague or ill-defined.
* 1915 , Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear
Relating to a nebula or nebulae.
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
As adjectives the difference between nebulous and vague
is that nebulous is in the form of a cloud or haze; hazy while vague is not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.As a noun vague is
a wandering; a vagary.As a verb vague is
to wander; to roam; to stray.nebulous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The magistrate could not possibly, on the evidence, have held them for a higher court. On the one hand the compositors and pressmen were forced to admit that the light was uncertain, that they were themselves much perturbed, and that it was difficult for them to swear to the identity of the assailants; although they believed that the accused were among them. Cross examined by the clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty, they were even more nebulous in their evidence.
Anagrams
*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.
