Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not precisely determined, determinable, or established.
- adjective Not precisely fixed, as to extent, size, nature, or number.
- adjective Lacking clarity or precision, as in meaning; vague.
- adjective Not fixed or known in advance.
- adjective Not leading up to a definite result or ending.
- adjective Botany Not terminating in a flower and continuing to grow at the apex.
- adjective Mathematics Having more than one variable and an infinite number of solutions, such as the equation 5x2 + 3y = 10.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not determinate; not settled or fixed; not definite; uncertain; not precise; not exclusively possessing either of a pair of contradictory attributes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not precise.
- adjective (Math.) that branch of analysis which has for its object the solution of indeterminate problems.
- adjective (Math.) coefficients arbitrarily assumed for convenience of calculation, or to facilitate some artifice of analysis. Their values are subsequently determined.
- adjective (Math.) an equation in which the unknown quantities admit of an infinite number of values, or sets of values. A group of equations is
indeterminate when it contains more unknown quantities than there are equations. - adjective (Bot.) a mode of inflorescence in which the flowers all arise from axillary buds, the terminal bud going on to grow and sometimes continuing the stem indefinitely; -- called also
acropetal inflorescence ,botryose inflorescence ,centripetal inflorescence , andindefinite inflorescence . - adjective (Math.) a problem which admits of an infinite number of solutions, or one in which there are fewer imposed conditions than there are unknown or required results.
- adjective (Math.) a quantity which has no fixed value, but which may be varied in accordance with any proposed condition.
- adjective (Math.) a series whose terms proceed by the powers of an indeterminate quantity, sometimes also with indeterminate exponents, or indeterminate coefficients.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
accurately determined ordeterminable . - adjective
Imprecise orvague . - adjective biology Of growth: with no
genetically defined end, and thus theoreticallylimitless . - adjective botany Of
inflorescences : not topped with some form ofterminal bud .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not capable of being determined
- adjective not leading to a definite ending or result
- adjective of uncertain or ambiguous nature
- adjective having a capacity for continuing to grow at the apex
- adjective not precisely determined or established; not fixed or known in advance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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[And this means that] The accord between imagination as free and understanding as indeterminate is therefore not merely assumed: it is in a sense animated, enlivened, engendered by the interest of the beautiful (KCP 55).
Notes on 'The Transcendental: Deleuze, P. B. Shelley, and the Freedom of Immobility' 1997
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Although I, like most law professors, can do a riff on how "35" is indeterminate, that is recognized as "academic" in the most pejorative sense; unless and until some 33-year-old is viewed as the truly indispensable person to inhabit the Oval Office, it will be taken as a given that we "know" what "35" means, which means a the passage of time time measured in solar (and not, for example, lunar) years.
Balkinization 2007
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For he that goes about the violation of a law, wherein no penalty is determined, expecteth an indeterminate, that is to say, an arbitrary punishment.
Leviathan 2007
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BALES: ... you get some that are called indeterminate, that just keep going all season.
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BALES: You get some that are called indeterminate, that just keep going all season.
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'Solar Set' is a determinate variety, unlike many of our readers may be used to (called indeterminate).
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Sex offenders would face open-ended prison sentences, known as "indeterminate," if members of a jury found them to be predatory.
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For he that goes about the violation of a law, wherein no penalty is determined, expecteth an indeterminate, that is to say, an arbitrary punishment.
Leviathan, or, The matter, forme, & power of a common-wealth ecclesiasticall and civill 1651
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Under a so-called indeterminate sentence for public protection, an offender is handed a minimum term that they must serve but they will only be freed after that point if the Parole
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010
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Under a so-called indeterminate sentence for public protection, an offender is handed a minimum term that they must serve but they will only be freed after that point if the Parole
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010
john commented on the word indeterminate
“Tomato varieties are labeled as either indeterminate or determinate, and horticulture experts recommend choosing indeterminate ones for upside-down gardens. Determinate tomato plants are stubbier, with somewhat rigid stalks that issue all their fruit at once, which could weigh down and break the stems if hanging upside down. Indeterminate types, by contrast, have more flexible, sprawling stems that produce fruit throughout the season and are less likely to be harmed by gravity. ”
The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/garden/20tomato.html, by Kate Murphy, May 19, 2010
May 20, 2010