Definition of “vague” - English Dictionary

“vague” in English

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vagueadjective

uk /veɪɡ/ us /veɪɡ/

C1 not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided:

I do have a vague memory of meeting her many years ago.
The patient had complained of vague pains and backache.

C1 not clear in shape, or not clearly seen:

Through the mist I could just make out a vague figure.

C2 A vague person is not able to think clearly, or gives an impression of not thinking clearly in order to hide their real thoughts:

My aunt is incredibly vague - she can never remember where she puts things.

More examples

vaguely
adverb uk /ˈveɪɡ.li/ us /ˈveɪɡ.li/

I vaguely remembered having met her before.
"He's around somewhere," she said, gesturing vaguely.
vagueness
noun [ U ] uk /ˈveɪɡ.nəs/ us /ˈveɪɡ.nəs/

Given the vagueness of the directions, I think we did very well to find the place.

(Definition of “vague” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

“vague” in American English

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vagueadjective [ -er/-est only ]

us /veɪɡ/

not clearly stated, described, or explained, or not clearly seen or felt:

She had a vague feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.
I have only a vague memory of the house where I lived as a child.

A person who is vague is not able or does not wish to state, describe, or explain something clearly:

Officials were vague about the ship’s location.
vaguely
adverb us /ˈveɪɡ·li/

She stood in silence for several minutes, only vaguely aware of the people around her.

(Definition of “vague” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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vague

He has fostered an alliance of isolated, minority claims, on the pretext, as convenient as it is vague, of combating 'discrimination'.
In their perhaps otherwise rather vague book, they observe that our technology and innovation policy are successful because we have a complete and autonomous centre for technical development.
The benefits it offers are vague and speculative - they are unproven and unquantified, but the costs are real, immediate and massive.
Normally those reports are quite vague about names and surnames, but here the names of the various people responsible are listed.
The result is that this offence is defined in a vague manner, so that it can cover very different types of cases, and not just illegal immigration.
Similarly, it only contains vague, unsatisfactory proposals on reducing permissible noise levels, especially in the vicinity of airports during the day and, more importantly, at night.
Even if the agreement succeeds in defining vague data protection standards, it is not clear precisely what action will be taken when companies violate these standards.
The procedure is extremely vague.
Nevertheless, the current legal framework remains vague on whether or not it must pass on information to the institutions or persons concerned by an investigation.
Moreover, the proposed 'statute' system may lead to political control of the parties, legal references for which are extremely vague, and which would be unworthy of a free society.