vaporous

American  

[vey-per-uhs] / ˈveɪ pər əs /

adjective

1. having the form or characteristics of vapor.

   a vaporous cloud.

2. full of or abounding in vapor; foggy; misty.

   a vaporous twilight.

3. producing or giving off vapor.

   a vaporous bog.

4. dimmed or obscured with vapor.

   a low valley surrounded by vaporous mountains.

5. unsubstantial; diaphanous; airy.

   vaporous fabrics; vaporous breezes.

6. vaguely formed, fanciful, or unreliable.

   vaporous promises.

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vaporous British  

/ ˈveɪpərəs, ˌveɪpəˈrɒsɪtɪ /

adjective

1. resembling or full of vapour

2. another word for vaporific

3. lacking permanence or substance; ephemeral or fanciful

4. given to foolish imaginings

5. dulled or obscured by an atmosphere of vapour

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Other Word Forms

• nonvaporosity noun
• nonvaporous adjective
• nonvaporously adverb
• nonvaporousness noun
• unvaporosity noun
• unvaporous adjective
• unvaporously adverb
• unvaporousness noun
• vaporosity noun
• vaporously adverb
• vaporousness noun

Etymology

Origin of vaporous

First recorded in 1520–30; vapor + -ous

Example Sentences

Movie scripts, like vexed suitors, struggle to pin down a vaporous lover.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2025

Hope needed a name and a shape, and what followed was anything but vaporous feelings.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2024

"We let the biology do the harder job of converting information about vaporous chemicals into an electrical neural signal," Raman said.

From Science Daily • Jan. 26, 2024

Both photographs reveal an almost football-shaped cloud of smooth, vaporous material wrapped in sharper, wispy multicolored tendrils.

From Scientific American • Nov. 10, 2023

Nels, flailing, his breath issuing forth in vaporous grunts, had broken out the ice with the handle of his toilet plunger, propped himself against the wall—his lumbago plagued him mercilessly—and dribbled night water unsteadily.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson