vague

Pronunciation

• IPA: /veɪɡ/; /væɡ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French vague (“wandering; empty”),^[2][3][4] from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, vacillating”) (see vagary),^[2][3][5] which is of uncertain origin; de Vaan suggests a link with Old Norse vakka (“to stray, hover”) and Old High German wankōn (“to totter”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of statements, couched in general terms, without precise expression: 1548 in Barnhart, the OED and Merriam-Webster, the 1540s in Etymonline.^[2][6][4][3] In the 16th century it applied the idea of a wandering mind to someone who could not think or speak clearly.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Not precise in meaning, of words, is from 1690, in Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding,^[2][6] and indefinite, of ideas, from before 1704, also in Locke.^[2][6] Of feelings it is by 1797,^[3][6] and of shapes indistinctly seen by 1822.^[3][6] A separate noun vague, a prank, is recorded from 1523, chiefly in Scots.^[6]

Timeline

• 1548 – of imprecise statements.^[2][6]
• 1690 – of imprecise words.^[2][6]
• before 1704 – of ideas.^[2][6]
• 1797 – of feelings.^[6]
• 1822 – of indistinct shapes.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not clearly expressed or explained; imprecise: vague promises.
2. Not clearly seen or felt; indistinct, hazy.
3. Of a person, not thinking or expressing oneself clearly; absent-minded.

Word family

• vaguely
• vagueness
• unvague

Related words

• vagabond
• vagary
• vagus
• extravagant
• vagrant
• divagate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press