determiner

[ dih-tur-muh-ner ]

/ dɪˈtɜr mə nər /

noun

a person or thing that determines.

Grammar. a member of a subclass of English limiting adjectival words that usually precede descriptive adjectives and include the articles the, a, and an, and any words that may substitute for them, as your, their, some, and each.

Nearby words

determination, determinative, determinator, determine, determined, determiner, determinism, deterrence, deterrent, detersive, detest

Origin of determiner

First recorded in 1520–30; determine + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for determiner

Then there must be a determiner, the expression of which was mathematical ability.
Applied Eugenics|Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson
Thus R may be taken to represent the determiner for red coloring matter and r its absence.
Being Well-Born|Michael F. Guyer
Similarly, in the female line, half of the ovules would contain the determiner of the one character and half, that of the other.
Being Well-Born|Michael F. Guyer
Then it must be due to a determiner for a notch in the ear in the germ-plasm.
Applied Eugenics|Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson

He felt the adequacy of this life as a determiner of the eternal destiny of all men.
India, Its Life and Thought|John P. Jones

British Dictionary definitions for determiner

determiner

/ (dɪˈtɜːmɪnə) /

noun

a word, such as a number, article, possessive adjective, etc, that determines (limits) the meaning of a noun phrase, e.g. their in `their black cat'

a person or thing that determines

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