vaguenessn.
/ˈveɪɡnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈveɪɡnᵻs/ a. The quality or condition of being vague; lack of distinctness or preciseness; indefiniteness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [noun] > state of being non-specific > indefiniteness
indefiniteness1589
indeterminateness1644
indeterminacy1649
indefinitya1734
indetermination1789
vagueness1799
indefinitude1828
indefinitivenessa1849
indefinitism1855
indefinition1888
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > insecure knowledge, uncertainty > [noun] > unclear condition
obscurity1474
mist1532
cloud-lighta1536
indeterminateness1644
undistinction1647
indeterminacy1649
indistinction1651
undeterminateness1653
inestimability1678
undefinableness?1705
confusion1729
obnubilation1753
cloudiness1779
indistinctness1783
haze1790
haziness1796
vagueness1799
nebulosity1809
undefinednessa1832
undecidedness1897
indeterminism1928
fuzziness1973
smog1976
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [noun] > vagueness or inexplicitness
ambage1520
vagueness1799
imprecision1803
inexplicitness1869
impreciseness1907
1799 J. Mackintosh Study Law Nature & Nations 8 Notwithstanding the objections of some writers to the vagueness of the language.
1829 H. Neele Lit. Remains 52 A great fault into which descriptive writers fall is the vagueness and indistinctness of their pictures.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. ii. §5 We shall have occasion to show under what conditions this vagueness may exist.
1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 350 A general vagueness as to the ordinary duties of mankind.
a1881 A. Barratt Physical Metempiric (1883) 52 The weakness of this conception is its vagueness.
b. An instance of this; a vague thing, feature, word, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [noun] > state of being non-specific > indefiniteness > that which is indefinite
indefinite1591
vagueness1838
the vague1851
1838 London & Westm. Rev. 29 68 With a remark or two on those errors and vaguenesses we shall conclude.
1840 E. A. Poe Fall House of Usher (new ed.) in Tales of Grotesque & Arabesque I. 86 The paintings..which grew, touch by touch, into vaguenesses at which I shuddered.
a1849 E. A. Poe R. H. Horne in Wks. (1864) III. 436 Pure vaguenesses of speech abound.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1799