adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a vague hint (= one that is not specific enough to understand )
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In his article, he gave only vague hints as to what he had actually done.
a vague impression (= not very clear )
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Dave only had a vague impression of the man who had attacked him.
a vague memory (= not clear )
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I have a vague memory of visiting them when I was small.
a vague notion (= an unclear idea )
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He had only a vague notion of what might happen next.
a vague promise (= not definite )
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Larry made some vague promises to leave his wife.
a vague/dim outline (= difficult to see )
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I could just make out a vague outline of a barn.
a vague/slight sense of sth (= not very strong )
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There was a slight sense of embarrassment.
an ambiguous/vague concept (= one that is not clear or is hard to define )
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Creativity is an ambiguous concept.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
deliberately
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There had been a deliberately vague telephone call.
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But they are deliberately vague because there are great problems with the dream of a tax form that fits on to a postcard.
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The language of these guides is often deliberately vague , to accommodate different approaches to a subject.
only
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In most cases, however, such well-defined features do not remain and only vague areas of earthworks are visible.
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These are hard questions with only vague answers.
rather
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So, as well as being probably infinite in length, the list of conditional observation statements was probably rather vague in content.
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Both were rather vague about details.
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What we have are some rather vague hints in later sources.
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In particular, the positions of each gear are rather vague and more-than-average effort is needed to shift from one to another.
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None of these writers looks at housework satisfaction; the notion of feminine domesticity is undefined and usually rather vague .
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This line of thought seems to be promising, but it is rather vague .
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Now I come to think of it, she was rather vague regarding his exact position with the company.
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He was rather vague about that, so my Hon. Friend asked him more questions.
so
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Of course, the mortgage market today is neither so generous nor so vague .
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His principles are so vague that even his intimates seem unable to put them into words.
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How on earth could she be so vague about some one he loved, some one she loved, in spite of Sheila Howarth.
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Here was the man who could answer all those questions Leila was so vague about.
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Many of their propositions seem to critics to be so vague that they are almost tautologous.
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It comforted him to have some definite complaint against her; everything else he felt was so vague and somehow shameful.
somewhat
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However, the notion of service development remains somewhat vague .
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This approach, though somewhat vague , is none the less important.
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The definition had been left somewhat vague in the legislation, though it was intended to embrace all matters relevant.
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The early history of madeira wine is somewhat vague .
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Even Fielding seems somewhat vague on the question.
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This role was initially left somewhat vague until Anthony Coburn advanced the suggestion she should be the Doctor's granddaughter.
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Their intentions were oblique and somewhat vague , but Klein already had a good idea about the subject to be discussed.
too
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Self-actualisation is too vague a concept to usefully inform managers. 5.
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Critics say the ratings are too vague and are inconsistently applied.
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Guidelines that are too vague are not guidelines at all.
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This might be a place to start, but for our purposes it is too vague .
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Sorry about this, Mr Bence, but do you not agree that sometimes your answers are just too vague ?
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Its regulations must be reasonable and not too vague .
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Greenpeace has described the guidelines' description of sustainable management as too vague .
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Somehow she seemed too gentle, too vague to perpetrate such a brutal crime.
very
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To begin with, that is a very vague concept.
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He thought of her being somewhere very vague , in a room with curtains, never moving from the chair.
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Mrs T also tried to work with her, but found her very vague .
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I could make out the very vague shapes of trees in the starlight.
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Indeed, he had been very vague about his student activities, describing himself as a mature student in marketing studies.
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Herbert Cranko, like his son, was often very vague about dates.
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My memory gets very vague here.
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At present, as indicated, central policy is often very vague and control over detail too meticulous.
■ NOUN
concept
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To begin with, that is a very vague concept .
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Deviance Deviance is a much wider and more vague concept than is crime, and is therefore less easy to define.
feeling
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I had a vague feeling he'd been an electrician.
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Instead, I was a pliable, compliant inhabitant of a world of vague feelings and limited comprehension.
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In the peculiar circumstances of the 1930s vague feelings of unrest with the Party crystallized into something more concrete.
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He smiles slightly at the vague feeling of hope he now feels.
hint
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The brain drifts back to full consciousness now that there is a vague hint of light spreading across the eastern sky.
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What we have are some rather vague hints in later sources.
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Homemade pizzas often lack even a vague hint of authenticity.
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Vincent had up to then only given vague hints about his relationship with Sien.
idea
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But it was a vague idea , little more, Neville remembers, than an inchoate impulse.
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They have only a vague idea about the unique culture around them.
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They had a vague idea where the place was.
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She had only a vague idea of how money was to be attracted.
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For example, two individuals enter marriage with a vague idea about the roles of husband and wife.
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You saw that logo, and you had a vague idea of what the sound and the content were going to be.
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I had only a vague idea where the circle was, but nevertheless set off towards it.
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Mary had some vague idea that Adam's parents might suspect he was down here and come to see him.
impression
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I had a vague impression of their father but he had spent most of the time with his head in his hands.
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Several of them have a vague impression of a coin-like disc near the base.
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Overall Engels seems to go much further in this enthusiasm for Morgan than the generally vague impression we get from Marx.
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He had the vague impression that the face was of an oriental and was beautiful in a strange way.
memory
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She had vague memories , only, to build on.
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He had a vague memory of that point in his life when a year was a long time.
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He had vague memories of a brother who apparently did not exist any more.
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I've a vague memory of a plump wee lass at a cousin's wedding three or four years back.
notion
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She had no paper qualifications, no special skills and only a vague notion that she wanted to work with children.
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Most of us maintain vague notions of justice, but its precise meaning escapes us until we are deprived of it.
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In which case a researcher's task is to translate this rather abstract and vague notion into some operational form.
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He must have harbored the vague notion that I could reassure him.
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Gradually vague notions of a career in journalism were forming in my head.
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He finds himself evaluated by the correspondingly vague notion of competence.
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At least the first time, she'd only a vague notion of what might lie ahead.
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He'd only a vague notion of what was going to happen after this.
promise
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The politicians made vague promises about independence.
sense
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In this vague sense animals likewise choose, and are aware and intelligent by our definitions.
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So too did Communism, in the vague sense of economic and social equality.
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So what was this vague sense of excitement that seemed to be stirring within her?
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I too have a vague sense that something is wrong because Beate never mentions her husband, Uldis, when we talk.
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The vague sense of depression that had settled over her in the library began to slip away.
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There was a vague sense of anticlimax mingled with her vast feeling of freedom.
shape
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It still burned with a harsh, blinding glare and through it she could see vague shapes , presumably the others.
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There was a mountain pass, vague shapes of hills beside the highway.
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Much of the room was reflected in a silvered one-way window behind which a vague shape loomed.
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I could make out the very vague shapes of trees in the starlight.
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I rubbed a patch clear and looked out hopefully; saw stone walls, the vague shapes of silver birch and larch.
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I could see a vague shape behind it.
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He paused at the bedroom door but the vague shape amid the bedclothes did not speak or stir.
way
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They are in a vague way in debt to society or the state.
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Loewenthal knew that the San Francisco Chronicle was, in a vague way , on to the same story.
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In a vague way , I thought, he had reminded me of Derry Welfram.
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You must pardon me, by the way , for speaking to you in this vague way.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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vague promises of support
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a vague smile
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Dave's instructions were rather vague .
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He was rather vague about the reasons why he never finished school.
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I've only got a vague idea of what he wants for this project.
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I had heard vague rumours that they were getting married.
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I only had a vague idea of where the place was.
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Officials were vague about the number of weapons that were uncovered.
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The doctor's vague explanations only increased Clara's fears.
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There have been vague rumours of a coup.
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There were vague shapes of hills in the distance.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A Wellesley College spokeswoman was spectacularly vague .
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Its regulations must be reasonable and not too vague .
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None of these writers looks at housework satisfaction; the notion of feminine domesticity is undefined and usually rather vague .
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She floated near but outside her own body, feeling vague and intense at the same time.
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They stood, she thought, the quintessential family, looking out from their sanctuary into the vague but hopeful unknown.