indeterminacy
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of indeterminacy
First recorded in 1640–50; indetermin(ate) + -acy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When attached to a character, indeterminacy manifests itself as confusion, and the novel mines a lot of humor from the bumbling of its poet-antihero.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
To make that happen, Viola needed faith in indeterminacy, which is at the heart of what made Tudor so fascinating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2024
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson likewise complained about “a lot of indeterminacy in this set of facts,” noting that “we’re not quite sure who it covers.”
From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2024
Where Rauschenberg and Cunningham were all about aloof indeterminacy and flux, Salle argues, Taylor and Katz were accessible populists concerned with style.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
In these cases, one mixes pseudorandom numbers from several computers, then incorporates the physical indeterminacy of randomly fluctuating voltages from a “white noise” source.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
