Define NEBULOUS (adjective) and get synonyms. What is NEBULOUS (adjective)? NEBULOUS (adjective) meaning, pronunciation and more by Macmillan. Nebulous - of or relating to or resembling a nebula; 'the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system' nebular astronomy, uranology - the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole.
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English, borrowed from Old Frenchnebuleus, from Latinnebulōsus(“full of mist, foggy, cloudy”), from nebula(“mist, vapour, cloud”), from Proto-Indo-European*nébʰos(“cloud, vapor, fog, moist, sky”). Cognate with Ancient Greekνέφος(néphos, “cloud”), Old High Germannebul(“cloud, fog”) (GermanNebel), Old Englishnifol, neowol(“dark, gloomy, obscure, precipitous, prone”). More at neveling, nuel.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation,US)IPA(key): /ˈnɛbjʊləs/
Audio (US)
Adjective[edit]
nebulous (comparativemore nebulous, superlativemost nebulous)
- In the form of a cloud or haze; hazy.
- Vague or ill-defined.
- 1915, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear:
- The magistrate could not possibly, on the evidence, have held them for a higher court. On the one hand the compositors and pressmen were forced to admit that the light was uncertain, that they were themselves much perturbed, and that it was difficult for them to swear to the identity of the assailants; although they believed that the accused were among them. Cross examined by the clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty, they were even more nebulous in their evidence.
- Relating to a nebula or nebulae.
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Anagrams[edit]
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