Like some commented below, it has philosophical origins. The inquiry stems the history of intellectual thought about the world. But the word itself is not so ancient, but nevertheless originates from abstract intellectual inquiry.
That being said, in our context of formalization and data, precision is likely always in order.
This means that we need to be careful not to simply leave the interpretation of our use of the word up to the reader because--as the comments here show--they may have a certain perception or understanding that may or may not be the intent or true.
So...if we are using the word in a setting such as a paper, webinar, group activity, etc., then it would be helpful to specify the intended meaning in writing.
