vagueness
noun
Simple meaning
Unclearness by virtue of being poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vaygnisSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈveɪɡnɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Unclearness by virtue of being poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning
“The Conservative manifesto is a model of vagueness.”
uncountable
The condition of being imprecise or unclear in meaning: vague.
countable
Something which is vague, or an instance or example of vagueness.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Unclearness by virtue of being poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning
Used this way, vagueness is a common word with a mildly favourable edge. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
“The Conservative manifesto is a model of vagueness.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use vagueness
- “The scene had the swirling vagueness of a painting by Turner.”noun
- “The Conservative manifesto is a model of vagueness.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.