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determinate

[ adjective dih-tur-muh-nit; verb dih-tur-muh-neyt ]
/ adjective dɪˈtɜr mə nɪt; verb dɪˈtɜr məˌneɪt /
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See synonyms for: determinate / determinated / determinates / determinating on Thesaurus.com
adjective
verb (used with object), de·ter·mi·nat·ed, de·ter·mi·nat·ing.
to make certain of.
to identify.
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Origin of determinate

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin dēterminātus, past participle of dētermināre.See determine, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM determinate

de·ter·mi·nate·ly, adverbde·ter·mi·nate·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to determinate

certain, decided, decisive, determined, distinct, final, firm, fixed, intent, known, limited, settled

How to use determinate in a sentence

  • He was just as pushing and determinated and persisting in his work as though he was taking orders for enlarging crayon portraits.

    Ladies and Gentlemen |Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for determinate

determinate
/ (dɪˈtɜːmɪnɪt) /
adjective
definitely limited, defined, or fixed; distinct
a less common word for determined
  1. able to be predicted or deduced
  2. (of an effect) obeying the law of causality
botany (of an inflorescence) having the main and branch stems ending in flowers and unable to grow further; cymose
(of a structure, stress, etc) able to be fully analysed or determined

Derived forms of determinate

determinately, adverbdeterminateness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for determinate

determinate
[ dĭ-tûr′mə-nĭt ]
Precisely determined, limited, or defined.
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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