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Many scientific concepts are of necessity vague, for instance species in biology cannot be precisely defined, owing to unclear cases such as ring species. Nonetheless, the concept of species can be clearly applied in the vast majority of cases. As this example illustrates, to say that a definition is "vague" is not necessarily a criticism.
An illustration of a weasel using "weasel words". In this case, "some people" are a vague and undefined authority. In rhetoric, a weasel word, or anonymous authority, is a word or phrase aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague, ambiguous, or irrelevant claim has been communicated.
Also apophthegm. A terse, pithy saying, akin to a proverb, maxim, or aphorism. aposiopesis A rhetorical device in which speech is broken off abruptly and the sentence is left unfinished. apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker breaks off from addressing the audience (e.g., in a play) and directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes ...
Fuzzy language refers to the strategic manipulation of hedges so as to deliberately introduce ambiguity into a statement. Hedges can also be used to express sarcasm as a way of making sentences more vague in written form. Sapphire works really hard. In this sentence, the word really can make the sentence fuzzy depending on the tone of the ...
When used sincerely, vague words make an article confusing and possibly make readers misinterpret or even miss important information altogether. In the hands of those with more sinister intents, vague words can currently be used to make articles that are readable enough to impart wrong or biased information but confusing enough to prevent ...
Define potentially vague terms. An example of law, that has been criticized in the USA for vagueness is Federal Analogue Act, which establishes criminal liability for making/selling chemicals, which are "analogous" to known prohibited drugs, but fails to be sufficiently specific for the accused to know, whether an "analogous drug" is prohibited ...
A variant of the "vague lead" is a lead in which editors have removed all examples from the lead, so that the lead describes the topic in such a generalized way that the reader gains little information about the topic and gets no information about the most important thinkers, bands, or organizations that are associated with the topic.
Speech is vague, conveys little information, but is not grossly incoherent and the amount of speech is not reduced. "I often contemplate—it is a general stance of the world—it is a tendency which varies from time to time—it defines things more than others—it is in the nature of habit—this is what I would like to say to explain ...