Can someone explain vagueness and ambiguity?

Question

Can someone explain vagueness and ambiguity?

Answer 1

vagueness is not giving enough information resulting in an unclear interpretation

ambiguous means unclear though information is given in the full

Answer 2

Illdefined

v

multiple possible meanings

Answer 3

Vagueness is a linguistic and philosophical term. To say that a concept is vague is to say that there may be cases in which there is no clear fact of the matter whether the concept applies or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagueness

Ambiguity is the property of being ambiguous, where a word, term, notation, sign, symbol, phrase, sentence, or any other form used for communication, is called ambiguous if it can be interpreted in more than one way. Ambiguity is distinct from vagueness, which arises when the boundaries of meaning are indistinct. Ambiguity is context-dependent: the same communication may be ambiguous in one context and unambiguous in another context. For a word, ambiguity typically refers to an unclear choice between different definitions as may be found in a dictionary. A sentence may be ambiguous due to different ways of parsing the same sequence of words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambiguity

Answer 4

Ambiguous leaves you wondering what the response really is, and vagueness leaves you thinking there is more to it than is being said.

Example: you make meatloaf and afterward, your guests make comments on it.

A vague answer: the guest shrugs and says with a slight nod and a weird smile, "Yeah, I liked it." You wonder if they're just being polite or if they really liked it.

An ambiguous answer: the guest smiles and says, "It's unlike anything I've ever tasted before." You wonder if they mean it in a good way or bad way.

Answer 5

Vagueness is usually not very detailed, perhaps a summation that could apply to almost anything.  Ambiguity is when there are two or more possible interpretations of a phrase or situation which then either has to be explained or contextualized.  Jokes rely on ambiguous meanings of words many times.  Puns are a good example.