vaguely

adverb

vague·​ly ˈvāg-lē 

: in a vague way: such as

a

: somewhat or slightly

He's vaguely familiar with the area.

… men on foot, dressed vaguely like janitors …

—A. L. Kennedy

b

: not clearly

There were grants, he explained vaguely, that had to be spent before the money went back to the federal government, so my main job was to buy lavish art books, as quickly as possible.

—Michael Blaine

Where once the city was a battleground for two main militias … now at least five militias claim vaguely defined pockets as their own.

—Jeffrey Bartholet

I've always believed closers are like girlfriends: You remember the great ones, you remember the awful ones and you vaguely remember everyone in between. (You could say the same about hockey goalies and field goal kickers.)

—Bill Simmons

Examples of vaguely in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their only other album to even vaguely rival the band’s two top-selling releases is Eagles Greatest Hits, Volume II (1982) which has sold 11 million copies to date. —Prof. Mike Alleyne Ph.d, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026

Maybe more than the oracular feeling vaguely robotic, however, the opposite is true—that the robotic reminds us of the oracle. —Literary Hub, 21 Jan. 2026

And more recently, in the new season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Simons has given Camp Half-Blood’s vaguely evil new head, King Tantalus, a bit of bloodthirsty swagger, as well as Robert Smith–style hair and a touch of pathos. —Marah Eakin, Vulture, 21 Jan. 2026

Where the two meet, bundles of the hotter stuff pierce the dusty shell, creating knotty plumes that look vaguely like comets. —Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1663, in the meaning defined above