vague specifications

USAGE SUMMARY

"vague specifications" is correct and can be used in written English.
You can use it when referring to standards that are not clearly defined or described. For example, "The blueprints included vague specifications for the construction project, making it difficult to accurately estimate its cost."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Formal & Business

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

1 human-written examples

Based on six hearsay declarations submitted by plaintiffs, the district court ordered that Microsoft be split into two companies, disclose its valuable intellectual property to competitors, redesign all of its operating system software to plaintiffs vague specifications and reprice that software according to an arbitrary court-imposed formula.

The New York Times

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

57 human-written examples

By decomposing the assemblies represented in a watertight polygon mesh into bags of parts, and considering the queries as a vague specification of a set of parts, the resilient ranking strategy in VSM is successfully applied in the assembly retrieval.

Computer-Aided Design

In particular, the vague specification of subjects as "naïve" needs to be made more precise, and precautions are needed against experimenter influence on potentially compliant subjects.

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

The expression "several times" is, objectively, a vague specification of prevalence and is open for interpretation, but it indicates some regularity and seriousness of pain.

BMC Public Health

The quality of data obtained from medical records can be compromised by unclearly specified research questions, vague specification of variables, poorly designed abstraction tools, poor understanding of the data by the abstractors and incompleteness of the data in medical records [ 9].

BMC Health Services Research

This article investigates fundamental issues in scaling autonomous personal robots towards open-ended sets of everyday manipulation tasks which involve high complexity and vague job specifications.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems

In this study, we followed advice from the literature: in the case of negative binomial models, estimation of the posterior mean of the dispersion parameter can be affected when a vague prior specification is used to characterize the gamma hyper-parameter.

BMC Medical Research Methodology

During a news conference on Wednesday night at the corporate headquarters in Redmond, Wash., he repeated the company's complaint that the remedy would require Microsoft to "disclose our most valuable intellectual property, even to our competitors" and "that we would be required to redesign all of our operating-systems software products to the government's vague and ambiguous specifications".

The New York Times

It has been increasingly recognized that maintaining consistency alone often results in some other types of non-canonical requirements, including incompleteness of a requirements specification, vague requirements statements, and redundant requirements statements.

International Journal of Approximate Reasoning

Slepak considers the FairShare specification "vague," but Goodwin wants to develop the project through practice, not theory.

Vice

Especially during the early phase of the production system development many interdependencies have to be considered while the information are still vague and most system specifications yet have to be determined.

Procedia Computer Science

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When using "vague specifications", provide context or examples to illustrate the lack of clarity you are referring to. This helps your audience understand the specific issues arising from the ambiguity.

Common error

Avoid simply stating that specifications are vague without explaining why or what the consequences are. This can leave your statement unsubstantiated and less impactful.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "vague specifications" functions as an adjective-noun combination. The adjective "vague" modifies the noun "specifications", indicating that the specifications lack clarity or precision. Ludwig AI confirms this phrase is suitable for use in written English.

Expression frequency: Common

Frequent in

Science

35%

News & Media

35%

Formal & Business

30%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "vague specifications" is a grammatically sound and frequently used phrase to denote a lack of clarity or precision in defined requirements. Ludwig AI confirms its validity in written English. Predominantly found in scientific, news, and formal business contexts, it serves to highlight potential issues arising from ambiguous guidelines. When employing this phrase, ensure you provide sufficient context or examples to underscore the specific challenges presented by such ambiguity. Alternatives like ""imprecise requirements"" or ""ambiguous guidelines"" may also be suitable depending on the context.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

imprecise requirements

Focuses on the lack of precision in what is required.

ambiguous guidelines

Emphasizes the unclear nature of the guiding principles.

ill-defined criteria

Highlights the poor definition of the standards used for evaluation.

nebulous standards

Suggests that the standards are hazy and lack clear form.

unclear stipulations

Focuses on the lack of clarity in the conditions or demands.

indistinct parameters

Indicates that the boundaries or limits are not well-defined.

poorly defined terms

Highlights that specific words or phrases are not adequately explained.

loose requirements

Emphasizes the relaxed or flexible nature of the demands.

general guidelines

Focuses on the broad and non-specific character of the guiding principles.

unspecified details

Highlights the absence of specific information.

FAQs

How can I use "vague specifications" in a sentence?

You can use "vague specifications" to describe requirements or standards that are not clearly defined. For example, "The project suffered delays due to the "vague specifications" in the initial design document".

What are some alternatives to saying "vague specifications"?

Alternatives include "imprecise requirements", "ambiguous guidelines", or "ill-defined criteria", depending on the specific context.

What does it mean when specifications are described as "vague"?

When specifications are described as "vague", it means they are not clearly or precisely defined, leading to potential misunderstandings and inconsistent interpretations.

How do "vague specifications" impact project outcomes?

Vague specifications can lead to project delays, increased costs, and ultimately, a final product that does not meet the intended requirements due to differing interpretations of the initial guidelines.