dispositive

[dih-spoz-i-tiv]

adjective

1. involving or affecting disposition or settlement.

   a dispositive clue in a case of embezzlement.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dispositive¹

1475–85; dispose + -itive, on the model of positive

Example Sentences

These dispositive motions are rarely granted, as I know from my experience representing Snowden, Thomas Drake, Daniel Hale and other whistleblowers in national security prosecutions under the Espionage Act.

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The evidence for both near-death experiences and childhood memories of previous lives is persuasive in terms of the credibility of the sources and verified facts, but much of it is strongly suggestive instead of dispositive.

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No single factor is dispositive.

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The Reid Technique also condones lying in certain circumstances, as long as it doesn’t involve “incontrovertible or dispositive evidence,” noting that the Supreme Court in 1969 in Frazier vs.

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In one especially Kafkaesque incident, I was even shut out of a hearing on dispositive motions for my client, Daniel Hale, even though there was no classified information at issue.

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