vaguely

adverb

vague·​ly ˈvāg-lē How to pronounce vaguely (audio)
: 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 The object vaguely resembled a chicken, with its rounded body but no head. Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY, 25 Mar. 2024 Of course, darker forces are at work, but Immaculate is only vaguely concerned with laying out the details. David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Mar. 2024 The album has a vaguely unsettling ambient intro, which evokes the ‘Master/Slave’ intro and outros on Ten. Jeff and Andrew came up with that. Jonathan Cohen, SPIN, 19 Mar. 2024 Trump had argued in his motion that the Espionage Act, which has been used for decades to convict others of improperly possessing classified documents, was too vaguely worded to be used in his indictment. Devlin Barrett, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024 With their wide eyes, upturned mouths and pastel pink coloring, axolotls look cheerful and vaguely Muppet-like. Kate Golembiewski, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024 Although vaguely surprised that the audience above the shiny people was so vast, my concentration whipped back to a naked John Cena. Longreads, 15 Mar. 2024 After a few short weeks of experiencing something even vaguely similar, the Kensington Palace media operation has become an international laughing stock. Louis Staples, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2024 The steeply slanted roof makes the space seem small; the chairs are just a foot above the ground, as if made for children or toys; and the elevator up smells vaguely like crayons. Vrinda Jagota, SPIN, 11 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vaguely.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1663, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of vaguely was in 1663

Dictionary Entries Near vaguely

Cite this Entry

“Vaguely.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vaguely. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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