different between vague vs slack

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

• IPA^(key): /slæk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.

Noun

slack (countable and uncountable, plural slacks)

1. (uncountable) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.

2. (countable) A tidal marsh or shallow that periodically fills and drains.
3. (uncountable, psychotherapy) Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
   • 1979, Richard Dean Rosen, Psychobabble (page 93)

     The counselor is directed to give his client "free attention," or "slack," performing a kind of vigil, a version of Carl Rogers's "unconditional positive regard."

   • 1983, Harvey Jackins, The Reclaiming of Power (page 14)

     We have apparently been doing this all our lives, since we were first distressed. This collection of ancient habits seems to be "energized" by the presence, or even the promise, of "slack" or free attention from any person in the situation […]

Synonyms

• (tidal marsh): slough

Translations

Adjective

slack (comparative slacker, superlative slackest)

1. (normally said of a rope) Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.

2. Weak; not holding fast.

3. Moderate in some capacity.
   1. Moderately warm.

   2. Moderate in speed.

4. lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
5. Not active, successful, or violent.
6. Excess; surplus to requirements.

7. (slang, Caribbean, Jamaican) vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
8. (linguistics) Lax.

Synonyms

• (not violent, rapid, or pressing): slow, moderate, easy

Derived terms

• slacken
• slack-jawed
• slackness

Translations

Adverb

slack (not comparable)

1. Slackly.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English slakken, slaken, from Old English slacian, from Proto-Germanic *slak?n? (“to slack, slacken”).

Verb

slack (third-person singular simple present slacks, present participle slacking, simple past and past participle slacked)

1. To slacken.

   • In this business of growing rich, poor men […] should slack their pace.

2. (obsolete) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.

Derived terms

• slack off

Translations

Etymology 3

Either from the adjective in Etymology 1 or the verb in Etymology 2.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (rail transport) A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.

Etymology 4

From Middle English slak, from Old Norse slakki (“a slope”). Cognate with Icelandic slakki, Norwegian slakke.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (countable) A valley, or small, shallow dell.

Etymology 5

Probably from German Schlacke (“dross, slag”). Doublet of slag.

Noun

slack (uncountable)

1. (mining) Small coal; coal dust.
   • 1905, Colliery Engineer (volume 25, page 107)

     One of the important improvements of recent years has been attained by mixing the peat pulp as it passes through the grinding machine, with other inflammable materials, such as bituminous coal dust, or slack […]

Synonyms

• culm

Derived terms

• nutty slack

Anagrams

• calks, kcals, lacks