English Explanatory Dictionary

nebulous

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. In the form of a cloud or haze; hazy.
  2. Vague or ill-defined.
  3. Relating to a nebula or nebulae.

Pronunciation

/ˈnɛbjʊləs/ en-us-nebulous.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-nebulous.wav

Word forms

nebulous more nebulous most nebulous

Etymology

From Middle English, from Middle French nebuleus, from Latin nebulōsus (“full of mist, foggy, cloudy”), from nebula (“mist, vapour, cloud”), from Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos (“cloud, vapor, fog, moist, sky”). Cognates *Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos, “cloud”) *German Nebel **Old High German nebul (“cloud, fog”) *Old English nifol, neowol (“dark, gloomy, obscure, precipitous, prone”) by surface analysis, nebula + -ous. More at neveling, nuel.

Synonyms

cloudish cloudlike cloudly cloudy foggy foglike fumid hazed hazy infumated mistlike misty nebulose nebulous roky smokelike smoky turbid vaporous

Antonyms

clear noncloudy unclouded uncloudy unnebulous

Related words

nebula nebular nebulosity inenubilable insubstantial obscure cloud

Derived words

nebulously nebulousness unnebulous
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