VAGUENESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does vagueness mean? 

• VAGUENESS (noun)
  The noun VAGUENESS has 2 senses:

1. unclearness by virtue of being poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning

2. indistinctness of shape or character

  Familiarity information: VAGUENESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VAGUENESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unclearness by virtue of being poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

these terms were used with a vagueness that suggested little or no thought about what each might convey

Hypernyms ("vagueness" is a kind of...):

unclearness (incomprehensibility as a result of not being clear)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vagueness"):

haziness (vagueness attributable to being not clearly defined)

Derivation:

vague (not clearly expressed or understood)

vague (not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Indistinctness of shape or character

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the scene had the swirling vagueness of a painting by Turner

Hypernyms ("vagueness" is a kind of...):

blurriness; fogginess; fuzziness; indistinctness; softness (the quality of being indistinct and without sharp outlines)

Derivation:

vague (lacking clarity or distinctness)

 Context examples 

Instead, he put it off with vagueness and indefiniteness and inquired after the family, particularly after Mrs. Morse and Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)