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Vague vs Broad - What's the difference?

vague | broad |

As a verb vague

is .

As an adjective broad is

wide in extent or scope.

As a noun broad is

(dated) a prostitute, a woman of loose morals.

vague

English

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.
  • Synonyms

    * obscure * ambiguous

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
  • (Holinshed)
  • An indefinite expanse.
  • * Lowell
  • The gray vague of unsympathizing sea.

    Verb

    (vagu)
  • To wander; to roam; to stray.
  • * Holland
  • [The soul] doth vague and wander.

    broad

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Wide in extent or scope.
  • three feet broad
    the broad expanse of ocean
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 19, author=Josh Halliday, work=the Guardian
  • , title= Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised? , passage=Julia Farrington, head of arts at Index on Censorship, argues that extra powers to ban violent videos online will "end up too broad and open to misapplication, which would damage freedom of expression".}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.}}
  • Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full.
  • * Bishop Porteus
  • broad and open day
  • Having a large measure of any thing or quality; not limited; not restrained.
  • * John Locke
  • a broad mixture of falsehood
  • Comprehensive; liberal; enlarged.
  • * D. Daggett
  • The words in the Constitution are broad enough to include the case.
  • * E. Everett
  • in a broad , statesmanlike, and masterly way
  • Plain; evident.
  • a broad hint
  • Free; unrestrained; unconfined.
  • * Shakespeare
  • as broad and general as the casing air
  • (dated) Gross; coarse; indelicate.
  • a broad''' compliment; a '''broad''' joke; '''broad humour
  • (of an accent) Strongly regional.
  • (Gaelic languages) Velarized, i.e. not palatalized.
  • Antonyms

    * * (Regarding body width) * (Not palatalized)

    Derived terms

    * breadth * broaden * broad across the beam * broad in the beam * broadscale * broad strokes * broadsword * broad church * broadcloth * broad agreement

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dated) A prostitute, a woman of loose morals.
  • (US) A woman or girl.
  • Who was that broad I saw you with?
  • (UK) A shallow lake, one of a number of bodies of water in eastern Norfolk and Suffolk.
  • A lathe tool for turning down the insides and bottoms of cylinders.
  • (Knight)

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also * See also

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

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