nebulous
adjective
Josef WoodardW. R. LaFave & J. H. Israel
Did you know?
Nebulous may sound other-worldly—after all, it’s related to nebula, which refers to a distant galaxy or an interstellar cloud of gas or dust—but its mysteriousness is rooted in more earthly unknowns. Both words ultimately come from Latin nebula, meaning “mist, cloud,” and as far back as the 14th century nebulous could mean simply “cloudy” or “foggy.” Nebulous has since the late 17th century been the adjective correlating to nebula (as in “nebulous gas”), but the word is more familiar in its figurative use, where it describes things that are indistinct or vague, as when Jack London wrote of “ideas that were nebulous at best and that in reality were remembered sensations.”
Synonyms
Examples of nebulous in a Sentence
Mike Lillis, The Hill, 1 Nov. 2024
The studios have addressed AI in several of recent contracts with other Hollywood unions, but each craft requires its own considerations, which require more extensive and nebulous conversations than other provisions.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 30 Oct. 2024
Your imagination runs wild as Mars clashes with nebulous Neptune, but your intuition is hazy.
—USA TODAY, 3 Sep. 2024
Dreams, nightmares, and memories begin to shape the nebulous mystery enveloping the brothers and their family.
—Megan Vick, EW.com, 28 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for nebulous 
Articles Related to nebulous
Dictionary Entries Near nebulous
Cite this Entry
“Nebulous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nebulous. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
nebulous
adjective
Share