determinate

American  

[dih-tur-muh-nit, dih-tur-muh-neyt] / dɪˈtɜr mə nɪt, dɪˈtɜr məˌneɪt /

adjective

1. having defined limits; definite.

2. settled; positive.

3. conclusive; final.

4. resolute.

5. Botany. (of an inflorescence) having the primary and each secondary axis ending in a flower or bud, thus preventing further elongation.

6. Engineering.

   1. (of a structure) able to be analyzed completely by means of the principles of statics.

   2. (of a member of a structure) subject only to definite, known stresses.

   3. (of a stress) able to be determined through the principles of statics.

---

verb (used with object)

determinated, determinating

1. to make certain of.

2. to identify.

determinate British  

/ dɪˈtɜːmɪnɪt /

adjective

1. definitely limited, defined, or fixed; distinct

2. a less common word for determined

3. 1. able to be predicted or deduced

   2. (of an effect) obeying the law of causality

4. botany (of an inflorescence) having the main and branch stems ending in flowers and unable to grow further; cymose

5. (of a structure, stress, etc) able to be fully analysed or determined

---

determinate Scientific  

/ dĭ-tûr′mə-nĭt /

1. Precisely determined, limited, or defined.

2. Not continuing to grow at an apical meristem. In the cyme, a determinate inflorescence, for example, the first floret develops at the end of the meristem, and no further elongation of the inflorescence can occur.

---

Other Word Forms

• determinateness
  noun
• determinately
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of determinate

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin dēterminātus, past participle of dētermināre. See determine, -ate ¹

Explanation

Do you have a determinate personal budget? Welcome to the club. So do most people, unless you happen to be Warren Buffet or Bill Gates. Anything determinate has a fixed limit to it. Slightly differently, determinate can also refer to something that has a clearly visible limit of form. For example, although no two snowflakes are ever exactly alike, they all share a certain "determinate form," that is they all have six arms.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

determinate determinated determinating

The French Revolution then dynamited Europe’s old order and dynamized society as a collective organism, evolving in a “quasi-biological and determinate way.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Jones was given an extended determinate sentence, where an offender receives a fixed jail term and an extended period on licence after their release.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2023

Determinate tomatoes: McKeever makes the case for determinate tomatoes, which are tomatoes that stay bushy instead of vining out and have a more set production, as these have more compact root systems.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2023

You argue that there's no one right way to do things, no determinate outcome, but that a tradition can evolve out of diverse views coming into conflict with with some kind of self-regulation.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2022

Substantial Forms, Occult Qualities, Intentional Species, Idiosyncrasies, Sympathies and Antipathies of Things, are exploded...because they are only empty Sounds, Words whereof no Man can form a certain and determinate Idea.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

That's precisely what them men war determinated not ter be!

From The Young Mountaineers Short Stories by Fraser, Malcolm

The New Englanders were anxious to buy the lands, but were earnest in their determinating to exclude slavery from the new territory.

From The Winning of the West, Volume 3 The Founding of the Trans-Alleghany Commonwealths, 1784-1790 by Roosevelt, Theodore

Mind is the determinating principle; matter is indeterminate and indefinite.

From Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles by Cocker, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin)

If we must look for some determinating influences during the childhood of Schiller, they are chiefly to be found in the character of his father.

From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)

The sulphuric compounds are related and yet opposed to the growth determinating phosphoric compounds.

From Valere Aude Dare to Be Healthy, Or, The Light of Physical Regeneration by Dechmann, Louis

Its character is such that it becomes the determinating factor of human adaptations to the conditions imposed by the environment, by envisaging the enduring and efficacious elements among these conditions as persons.

From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Bode, Boyd H.