determinate
[ adjective dih-tur-muh-nit; verb dih-tur-muh-neyt ]
/ adjective dɪˈtɜr mə nɪt; verb dɪˈtɜr məˌneɪt /
Save This Word!
adjective
verb (used with object), de·ter·mi·nat·ed, de·ter·mi·nat·ing.
to make certain of.
to identify.
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON “ITS” VS. “IT’S”!
Apostrophes can be tricky; prove you know the difference between "it’s" and "its" in this crafty quiz!
Question 1 of 8
On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Origin of determinate
OTHER WORDS FROM determinate
de·ter·mi·nate·ly, adverbde·ter·mi·nate·ness, nounDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use determinate in a sentence
In the animal this sense is the determinating principle of motion, but in man only the means, or the secondary cause.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume V (of 10)|Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonBut even to-day what do we find the general reliance of the American mind in determinating this question?
Civilization the Primal Need of the Race|Alexander CrummellMind is the determinating principle; matter is indeterminate and indefinite.
Christianity and Greek Philosophy|Benjamin Franklin CockerThe sulphuric compounds are related and yet opposed to the growth determinating phosphoric compounds.
Valere Aude|Louis Dechmann
British Dictionary definitions for determinate
determinate
/ (dɪˈtɜːmɪnɪt) /
adjective
definitely limited, defined, or fixed; distinct
a less common word for determined
- able to be predicted or deduced
- (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, nounCollins 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.