nebulously
1
8.8
- adverb
- /ˈnɛbjələsli/
:
nebulosamente
- When asked about the project, she responded nebulously, leaving everyone confused about her true intentions.
It's wonderful to think about things kind of nebulously and then it all comes back to what do we care about as we age?
- It's wonderful to think about things kind of nebulously and then it all comes back to what do we care about as we age?
Examples
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We have to be smart and say your nebulously defined ideal is BS.
Blog text (7) -
What should scare people is that 700 Americans are willing to be arrested and camp out in NY in a growing movement for what are sort of nebulously defined reasons, which have gained the support of very mainstream people ranging from union leaders to celebrities.
Blog text (27) -
It's wonderful to think about things kind of nebulously and then it all comes back to what do we care about as we age?
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It's just the kind of non-word that is used by the left to talk about nothing or about some felt but nebulously defined ideal.
Blog text (7) -
You are correct that I cannot prove some nebulously defined "supernatural being" did not create the universe and then decide it had better things to do for the last 14 billion years.
Blog text (26) -
I would note, first, that even were this true, what the man thus nebulously commits himself to does not confer sense on what he says.
Academic text (2007) -
As infants begin to gain a sense of themselves as bounded entities, they begin to experience the care of the adults around them, rather nebulously as a 'transformational process'.
Academic text (2014) -
His Foreign Affairs article identified three key characteristics of a rogue state designation: first, the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction; second, the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy; third, and most nebulously, regimes that constitute regional threats to important U.S. interests.
Academic text (2001) -
Interestingly, Jacobsen does not give the words to Fennimore's song; the most powerful words, again, go unvoiced to be nebulously constructed between authorial suggestion and readerly interpretation.
Academic text (1999) -
He described his goals nebulously, making it difficult for his colleagues to understand what he wanted to achieve.
Synonyms
115
3.9
Not clearly or with few details
23
6.3
Hard to see, hear, or remember clearly
5
6.7
In a way that is not clear or logical
2
7.7
In a way that is not clear and hard to understand
1
4.4
Not clear or hard to understand
1
5.4
In a way that is unclear or blurry
1
7.1
In a rough, incomplete way that lacks detail
In a way that is not clear and hard to remember
In a way that is unclear and gives no details
In a vague and unclear way
In a way that avoids clear answers or direct information
In a vague way without clear detail
Antonyms
How Vague
Surface Forms
Morphology
nebulously = nebulous (transparent) = nebul + ous + ly
Standard adverb formation: '-ly' attaches to the adjective 'nebulous' to produce 'nebulously', so the meaning is directly derived.
Etymology
Nebulously comes from the Latin nebula, meaning 'mist' or 'cloud', and shares the same root as the English word nebula. So to speak nebulously is like talking through a cloud — unclear and hard to understand, which is why it means 'in a vague or unclear way'.