impreciseim‧pre‧cise /ˌɪmprɪˈsaɪs◂/ AWL adjective 
Examples
vague imprecise estimates Alcohol affects the brain, making speech slurred and imprecise.—imprecisely adverb—imprecision /-ˈsɪʒən/ noun [uncountable]: an imprecision in the terminology
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- imprecise estimates
- His use of language is vague and imprecise.
- Many of the terms used in this book are imprecise.
- She gave me directions to the hotel, but they were, shall we say, somewhat imprecise.
- Although the word reengineering dominates business jargon, as a metaphor for organizational change, it has become wildly imprecise.
- Furthermore the sense in which we describe certain dilemmas, impulses, intuitions, or decisions as moral ones is notoriously imprecise.
- If the neurons control speech, words slur and become increasingly imprecise.
- In particular, how does it come about that the imprecise quantum world yields a precise answer when it is experimentally interrogated?
- Is knowledge lost from memory or does it change, becoming vague and imprecise, or distorted, or disconnected and fragmented?
- The rhythms are very useful, even though quite imprecise.
Longman Language Activatornot clear► unclear/not clear
Word family · It is unclear how the man died.· The instructions aren't very clear.· The terms of our tenancy agreement are somewhat unclear.· The reasons for his resignation are still not clear.unclear/not clear about · His ideas are good, but he's very unclear about how he's going to achieve them.unclear/not clear whether/what/why etc · It's not clear why Parks didn't go straight to the police.· It is unclear whether the she will agree to the new arrangements.
► ambiguous having more than one possible meaning and therefore confusing and unclear: · The document's ambiguous wording makes it very difficult to follow.deliberately ambiguous (=intended to be difficult to understand): · The last part of her letter was deliberately ambiguous.
► imprecise words or statements that are imprecise are unclear because they do not describe or explain something in an exact way when this is necessary: · Many of the terms used in this book are imprecise.· She gave me directions to the hotel, but they were, shall we say, somewhat imprecise.
► vague unclear, especially because not enough details are given: · There have been vague rumours of a coup.vague idea: · I only had a vague idea of where the place was.vague about: · He was rather vague about the reasons why he never finished school.
► confusing a confusing situation, story, explanation, etc is difficult to understand because there does not seem to be any clear pattern or order to it: · The kidnappers issued a series of confusing demands.· I found the book really confusing. I kept forgetting who the characters were.· Cricket can be a pretty confusing game for non-players.
► muddled/garbled if something that someone tells you is muddled or garbled , it is very unclear and confusing because they themselves have not really understood it very well: · I heard a garbled version of the story from one of my students.· Conroy made some muddled statement about how company policy has to be observed in these situations.· The old woman's directions were so garbled that I just rolled up the window and drove on.
► unintelligible unintelligible speech or writing is impossible to understand, for example because the words are not clear or it is written very badly: · Her note was practically unintelligible.· I liked the music but the lyrics were completely unintelligible.
WORD FAMILYadjectiveprecise ≠ impreciseprecisionnounprecision ≠ imprecisionadverbprecisely ≠ imprecisely
not clear or exact OPP precise, exact: vague imprecise estimates Alcohol affects the brain, making speech slurred and imprecise.—imprecisely adverb—imprecision /-ˈsɪʒən/ noun [uncountable]: an imprecision in the terminology