Definition

Adjective 1. Resembling or having the nature of vapor; misty, ethereal. * This describes something that is light, airy, and insubstantial, similar to steam or mist. 2. Affected by or prone to low spirits, melancholy, or hypochondria (archaic). * This is an archaic usage describing a person's mood or temperament as gloomy, depressed, or given to vague, unfounded worries about one's health.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Resembling vapor):
  • The morning light gave the landscape a soft, vapourish quality.
  • Her memories of the event were faint and vapourish, like a fading dream.
• Adjective (Archaic - Melancholic):
  • The character in the 18th-century novel was described as vapourish, often retiring to her room with a headache.
  • He dismissed his anxieties as merely a vapourish fancy.

Advanced Usage

• The term is now considered literary and somewhat archaic, especially in its second meaning. In modern contexts, "vaporous" is more commonly used for the first definition.
• It can be used figuratively to describe abstract concepts like thoughts, memories, or moods that are vague, transient, or lacking solidity.

Variants and Related Words

• Vaporous (adj.): The more common modern synonym for the first meaning (consisting of, resembling, or producing vapor; also, insubstantial or vague).
• Vapoury (adj.): An alternative spelling with the same meaning.
• Vapour (n.): The noun form meaning a substance in the gas phase, or a vague or insubstantial thing.
• Vaporishness (n.): The state or quality of being vapourish.

Synonyms

• For : vaporous, misty, foggy, gaseous, ethereal, diaphanous, insubstantial.
• For : hypochondriac, melancholic, low-spirited, gloomy, depressed.

Antonyms

• For : solid, substantial, dense, concrete, opaque.
• For : cheerful, sanguine, buoyant, lighthearted.

Notes on Meaning

The word has two distinct meanings that stem from different historical interpretations of "vapour." The first relates to the physical substance. The second, archaic meaning derives from the old medical theory of "vapours" as exhalations within the body thought to cause depression or hysteria.

Adjective

1. resembling or characteristic of vapor
   • vaporous clouds