Adjective

(er)

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= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/2

, 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.

Adjective

(arbitrariness) (en adjective)

(usually, of a decision) Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.

Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary . In fact, electrons flow in the opposite direction to conventional current.

The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary , as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives.

Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed.

"The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted to consolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed these show trials to be the arbitrary acts of a cruel dictator." ( Max Born, Letters to Einstein)

(mathematics) Any and all possible.

The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.

Determined by independent arbiter.

To secure food safety, there should first be a national standard to arbitrarily state what is wholesome and what is not; second, the final buyer should know exactly what he is purchasing. ( The World's Work ...: a history of our time)