Vaguest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The attribute of being not clearly defined or precise can be referred to as vagueness
2. Showing a lack of distinctness or clarity in expression or meaning
3. Characterized by imprecise or indistinct information or features

Etymology: "Vaguest" is the superlative of "vague", so the useful story is the one behind the base word. Latin "vagus" meant "wandering" or "rambling", the sense of someone strolling without a fixed destination. That literal picture of aimless movement is what the word carried before it ever described unclear ideas. Latin "vagari", to wander, belongs to the same family. The word reached English through Middle French "vague", which kept the Latin sense of roaming and gradually took on the figurative sense of lacking a definite shape or boundary. A wandering path has no clear edge, and a vague outline or vague memory follows the same logic. Over time the physical notion of roaming faded, leaving only the idea of indistinctness. The superlative "vaguest" is simply the most indistinct of a set of things, as in "the vaguest hint of a smile."

Synonyms: most unclear, most indistinct, most imprecise, most ambiguous, most nebulous

Antonyms: clearest, most definite, most precise, most specific, most explicit