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nebulous - 4 dictionary results

neb⋅u⋅lous

  [neb-yuh-luhs]
Use nebulous in a Sentence
–adjective
1. hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused: a nebulous recollection of the meeting; a nebulous distinction between pride and conceit.
2. cloudy or cloudlike.
3. of or resembling a nebula or nebulae; nebular.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < L nebulōsus full of mist, foggy, cloudy. See nebula, -ous

Related forms:
neb⋅u⋅lous⋅ly, adverb
neb⋅u⋅lous⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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neb·u·lous   (něb'yə-ləs)   
adj.  
  1. Cloudy, misty, or hazy.
  2. Lacking definite form or limits; vague: nebulous assurances of future cooperation.
  3. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a nebula.

[Middle English, from Latin nebulōsus, from nebula, cloud; see nebh- in Indo-European roots.]
neb'u·lous·ly adv., neb'u·lous·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Nebulous

Neb"u*lous\, a. [L. nebulosus: cf. F. n['e]buleux. See Nebula.]

1. Cloudy; hazy; misty.

2. (Astron.) Of, pertaining to, or having the appearance of, a nebula; nebular; cloudlike. -- Neb"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Neb"u*lous*ness, n.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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nebulous 
c.1386, "cloudy, misty," from L. nebulosus "cloudy, misty, foggy," from nebula (see nebula). The fig. sense of "hazy, vague, formless" is first attested 1831.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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