indistinct

/ɪndɪˈstɪŋkt/

Is it hard to tell what someone is saying? Can you not see something clearly? Anything hard to make out is indistinct.

Indistinct things are fuzzy, unclear, and hard to see or understand. A whisper can be indistinct. A clear, confident speaker is not indistinct. People like to say what a cloud is shaped like, but clouds are generally pretty indistinct — that's why different people will see different shapes in the same cloud. When we're writing, speaking, or drawing, we should try to be distinct, not indistinct — because we want to be understood.

Definitions of indistinct

1. adjective

   not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand
   “indistinct shapes in the gloom”

   “an indistinct memory”

   “only indistinct notions of what to do”

   synonyms:

   unclear

   not clear to the mind

   indefinite

   vague or not clearly defined or stated

   bedimmed

   made dim or indistinct

   bleary, blurred, blurry, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, muzzy

   indistinct or hazy in outline

   cloudy, nebulose, nebulous

   lacking definite form or limits

   dim, faint, shadowy, vague, wispy

   lacking clarity or distinctness

   faint

   indistinctly understood or felt or perceived

   veiled

   muted or unclear

   antonyms:

   distinct

   easy to perceive; especially clearly outlined

   clear

   readily apparent to the mind

   definite

   precise; explicit and clearly defined

   chiseled, well-defined

   having a clean and distinct outline as if precisely cut along the edges

   clean-cut, clear, clear-cut

   clear and distinct to the senses; easily perceptible

   crisp, sharp

   (of something seen or heard) clearly defined

   crystalline

   distinctly or sharply outlined

   defined, outlined

   showing clearly the outline or profile or boundary

   knifelike

   having a sharp or distinct edge

   razor-sharp

   very clearly delineated

   precise

   sharply exact or accurate or delimited