different between vague vs mute

English

Etymology

From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus (“uncertain, vague”, literally “wandering, rambling, strolling”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ve??/
• IPA^(key): (Upper Midwest US) /væ?/
• Rhymes: -e??, -æ?

Adjective

vague (comparative vaguer, superlative vaguest)

1. Not clearly expressed; stated in indefinite terms.
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     Throughout the first week of his presidency, Dulles and Bissell continued to brief Kennedy on their strategy for Cuba, but the men were vague and their meetings offered little in the way of hard facts.

   inarticulate, Synonym: unclear; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

2. Not having a precise meaning.

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal

3. Not clearly defined, grasped, or understood; indistinct; slight.

   Synonyms: ambiguous, equivocal, indistinct, obscure; see also Thesaurus:vague

4. Not clearly felt or sensed; somewhat subconscious.

5. Not thinking or expressing one’s thoughts clearly or precisely.
   • 1962, Philip Larkin, "Toads Revisited"

     Waxed-fleshed out-patients / Still vague from accidents, / And characters in long coats / Deep in the litter-baskets […]

   Synonym: dazed

6. Lacking expression; vacant.

   Synonyms: vacant, vacuous

7. Not sharply outlined; hazy.

   Synonyms: fuzzy, hazy, ill-defined; see also Thesaurus:indistinct

8. Wandering; vagrant; vagabond.
   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI

     The Lord Gray incourag'd his men to set sharply upon the vague villains

   Synonyms: erratic, roaming, unsettled, vagrant, vagabond

Related terms

Translations

Noun

vague (plural vagues)

1. (obsolete) A wandering; a vagary.
2. An indefinite expanse.
   • 1870, James Russell Lowell, The Cathedral

     The gray vague of unsympathizing sea.

Verb

vague (third-person singular simple present vagues, present participle vaguing, simple past and past participle vagued)

1. (archaic) to wander; to roam; to stray.
   • 1603, Philemon Holland (translator), The Philosophie, commonly called, the Morals

     [The soul] doth vague and wander.

2. To become vague or act in a vague manner.

Further reading

• vague in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• vague in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• vague at OneLook Dictionary Search

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin vagus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?va.??/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?ba.??/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?va.?e/

Adjective

vague (feminine vaga, masculine and feminine plural vagues)

1. vague

Derived terms

• vagament

Further reading

• “vague” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “vague” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “vague” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “vague” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology 1

From Middle French [Term?], from Old French vague (“movement on the surface of a liquid, ripple”), from Old Norse vágr (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *w?gaz (“wave, storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *we??- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with Swedish våg (“wave”), Middle Dutch waeghe, wage (“wave”), Old High German w?ge (“wave”), Old English w?g (“wave, billow, motion, flood”). More at waw, wave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va?/

Noun

vague f (plural vagues)

1. wave
   • 2014, Indila, Comme un bateau

Derived terms

• faire des vagues
• vague de chaleur
• vague de froid
• vaguelette
• vaguette

Etymology 2

From Middle French vague, from Latin vagus (“uncertain, vague”, literally “wandering, rambling, strolling”). Possibly a doublet of gai.

Adjective

vague (plural vagues)

1. vague

Noun

vague m (plural vagues)

1. vagueness

   Synonym: distrait

Derived terms

• terrain vague
• vague à l'âme
• vaguement

Further reading

• “vague” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Verb

vague

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of vagar

Portuguese

Verb

vague

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of vagar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of vagar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of vagar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of vagar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ba?e/, [?ba.??e]

Verb

vague

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of vagar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of vagar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of vagar.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: myo?ot, IPA^(key): /mju?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t
• Homophone: moot (in some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin m?tus.

Adjective

mute (comparative muter, superlative mutest)

1. Not having the power of speech; dumb. [from 15th c.]
   • 1717 Ovid: Metamorphoses, translated by John Dryden et al.

     Thus, while the mute creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes / Beholds his own hereditary skies. / From such rude principles our form began; / And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.

2. Silent; not making a sound. [from 15th c.]
   • 1956, Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (?, translators), Lion Feuchtwanger (German author), Raquel: The Jewess of Toledo (translation of Die Jüdin von Toledo),^[1] Messner, page 178:

     “ […] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!”

3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

mute (plural mutes)

1. (phonetics, now historical) A stopped consonant; a stop. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: occlusive, plosive, stop

2. (obsolete, theater) An actor who does not speak; a mime performer. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; (John Dryden)

     As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:

3. A person who does not have the power of speech. [from 17th c.]
4. A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant. [from 18th c.]

   • The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute, while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 481:

     Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’

5. (music) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine. [from 18th c.]
6. An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
   • 2012, Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television (page 174)

     Another related primary control is called a mute, which is simply a switch that kills the signal altogether, allowing for a speedier turn-off than turning the fader all the way down rapidly. Mutes are probably more commonly used during multitrack music recording than during film mixing because in music all tracks are on practically all of the time, whereas workstations produce silence when there is no desired signal […]

7. A mute swan.
   • 1998, Bob Devine, National Geographic Society (U.S.), Alien invasion: America's battle with non-native animals and plants

     The trumpeters' fate seems likely to get tangled with that of the mute swan. Currently there's enough habitat for both species, but that may change if trumpeters flourish and mutes aren't controlled. Right now mutes are thriving.

Translations

Verb

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (transitive) To silence, to make quiet.
2. (transitive) To turn off the sound of.

Derived terms

• muter

Translations

See also

• dumb

Etymology 2

From Middle French muetir, probably a shortened form of esmeutir, ultimately from Proto-Germanic.

Verb

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (now rare) Of a bird: to defecate. [from 15th c.]
   • 1946, George Orwell, Animal Farm, Signet Classics, pages 40–41:

     All the pigeons, to the number of thirty-five, flew to and fro over the men's heads and muted upon them from mid-air;...

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

Noun

mute (plural mutes)

1. The faeces of a hawk or falcon.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Latin mutare (“to change”).

Verb

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (transitive) To cast off; to moult.

   • Have I muted all my feathers?

Esperanto

Etymology

From muta +? -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mute/
• Hyphenation: mu?te
• Rhymes: -ute
• Audio:

Adverb

mute

1. mutely, speechlessly

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /myt/

Verb

mute

1. first/third-person singular present indicative of muter
2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of muter
3. second-person singular imperative of muter

Anagrams

• émut, émût, meut, muet

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mu.te/
• Hyphenation: mu?te

Adjective

mute

1. feminine plural of muto

Noun

mute f pl

1. plural of muta

Latgalian

Noun

mute f

1. mouth

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?mu?.te/, [?mu?t??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?mu.te/, [?mu?t??]

Adjective

m?te

1. vocative masculine singular of m?tus

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *mnt-, *ment- (“to chew; jaw, mouth”). Cognate with Latin mentum (“chin”) and mand? (“to chew”), Ancient Greek ?????? (mástax, “jaws, mouth”) and ???????? (masáomai, “to chew”), Welsh mant (“jawbone”), Hittite [script needed] (m?ni, “chin”), Proto-Germanic *munþaz (“mouth”) (English mouth, German Mund, Dutch mond, Swedish mun, Icelandic munnur, Gothic ???????????????????? (munþs)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mut?]

Noun

mute f (5th declension)

1. (anatomy) mouth (orifice for ingesting food)

2. orifice, opening, entrance

3. face

4. kiss

Declension

Derived terms

• mut?gs
• mutisks

Middle English

Adjective

mute

1. Alternative form of muet

Murui Huitoto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mu.t?]
• Hyphenation: mu?te

Verb

mute

1. (intransitive) to complain

References

• Katarzyna Izabela Wojtylak (2017) A grammar of Murui (Bue): a Witotoan language of Northwest Amazonia.?^[3], Townsville: James Cook University press (PhD thesis), page 129

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse múta.

Noun

mute f (definite singular muta, indefinite plural muter, definite plural mutene)

1. bribe
2. secrecy

Verb

mute (present tense mutar, past tense muta, past participle muta, passive infinitive mutast, present participle mutande, imperative mut)

1. (transitive) to bribe
2. (transitive) to hide, conceal

Etymology 2

From German muten.

Verb

mute (present tense mutar, past tense muta, past participle muta, passive infinitive mutast, present participle mutande, imperative mut)

1. (mining) to apply for a mining permit

References

• “mute” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

mute (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. third-person plural present indicative of mutiti

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mute]

Verb

mute

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of muta
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of muta

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mute/, [?mu.t?e]

Verb

mute

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of mutar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of mutar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of mutar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of mutar.