conclusive
Americanadjective
-
serving to settle or decide a question; decisive; convincing.
conclusive evidence.
- Synonyms:
- definitive
-
tending to terminate; closing.
adjective
-
putting an end to doubt; decisive; final
-
approaching or involving an end or conclusion
Other Word Forms
- conclusively adverb
- conclusiveness noun
- nonconclusive adjective
- nonconclusively adverb
- nonconclusiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of conclusive
1580–90; < Late Latin conclūsīvus, equivalent to Latin conclūs ( us ) (past participle of conclūdere to conclude; conclusion ) + -īvus -ive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Davis said in a pool report “there was not clear and conclusive evidence to overturn the on-court ruling.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2026
There is no conclusive evidence as to what those shipments contained.
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
The most conclusive evidence came in 2018 when Israel whisked Iran’s secret nuclear archives out of Tehran.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
"Studies have found increasing TFA levels in remote Arctic ice-cores and our results provide the first conclusive evidence that virtually all of these deposits can be explained by these gases."
From Science Daily • Feb. 6, 2026
He describes the phases as providing ‘strong evidence that Venus moves in a sun-centred orbit’ when one might rather say that they provide conclusive evidence.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
