Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Precisely limited or defined; definite.
  • adjective Conclusively settled; final.
  • adjective Firm in purpose; resolute.
  • adjective Terminating in a flower and blooming in a sequence beginning with the uppermost or central flower.
  • adjective Not continuing indefinitely at the tip of an axis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bring to an end; terminate.
  • Having defined limits; fixed; definite; clearly defined or definable; particular: as, a determinate quantity of matter.
  • Predetermined; settled; positive: as, a determinate rule or order.
  • Decisive; conclusive.
  • Determined upon; intended.
  • Fixed in purpose; resolute; determined.
  • noun In Weismann's doctrine of determinants, any cell which has distinctive hereditary qualities.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having defined limits; not uncertain or arbitrary; fixed; established; definite.
  • adjective Conclusive; decisive; positive.
  • adjective obsolete Determined or resolved upon.
  • adjective obsolete Of determined purpose; resolute.
  • adjective (Bot.) that in which the flowering commences with the terminal bud of a stem, which puts a limit to its growth; -- also called centrifugal inflorescence.
  • adjective (Math.) a problem which admits of a limited number of solutions.
  • adjective (Math.) those that are finite in the number of values or solutions, that is, in which the conditions of the problem or equation determine the number.
  • transitive verb obsolete To bring to an end; to determine. See determine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective biology Of growth: ending once a genetically predetermined structure has formed.
  • noun philosophy A single state of a particular determinable attribute.
  • verb obsolete To bring to an end; to determine.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not continuing to grow indefinitely at the apex
  • adjective precisely determined or limited or defined; especially fixed by rule or by a specific and constant cause
  • adjective supplying or being a final or conclusive settlement

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin dēterminātus, past participle of dētermināre, to determine; see determine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin dēterminātus, perfect passive participle of dēterminō ("limit, set bounds").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word determinate.

Examples

  • The Cambridge logician W.E. Johnson introduced the terms determinate and determinable to apply to examples such as red and colored.

    Determinates vs. Determinables Sanford, David H. 2006

  • The sovereign he defined as a determinate human superior who receives habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society and is not himself in the habit of obedience to any superior.

    CONCEPT OF LAW GRAHAM HUGHES 1968

  • The sovereign he defined as a determinate human superior who receives habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society and is not himself in the habit of obedience to any superior.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas 1925

  • Between the child and the living creatures which he cultivates there is born a mysterious correspondence which induces the child to fulfil certain determinate acts without the intervention of the teacher, that is, leads him to an auto-education.

    The Montessori Method Anne E. Montessori George 1912

  • This, I think, may fitly be called a determinate or determined idea, when such as it is at any time objectively in the mind, and so determined there, it is annexed, and without variation determined, to a name or articulate sound, which is to be steadily the sign of that very same object of the mind, or determinate idea.

    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 2007

  • If the microstructure of the world is absolutely determinate, that is absolute determinacy enough.

    Determinates vs. Determinables Sanford, David H. 2006

  • His terms determinate, determinable, occurrent, continuant and ostensive definition have entered the philosophical lexicon.

    Determinates vs. Determinables Sanford, David H. 2006

  • But, as in the case of universal validity, the necessity is not based on concepts or rules (at least, not concepts or rules that are determinate, that is, of a kind which figure in cognition; as noted earlier in this section, Kant describes it, in the Antinomy of Taste, as resting on an indeterminate concept).

    Kant's Aesthetics and Teleology Ginsborg, Hannah 2005

  • It really varies from executive order to executive order, to regulation to regulation, and the determinate will be the substance of each regulation or executive order.

    CNN Transcript - Special Event: Bush Spokesman Ari Fleischer Holds Transition Team News Briefing - January 3, 2001 2001

  • Clodfelter presented the case to a McLennan County grand jury, which approved her request to proceed with the case through what is known as determinate sentencing.

    wacotrib - Latest News Headlines 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.