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
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
The concerto reveals, with marvel and magnificence, the essential nuance between the indeterminacy of nature’s rhythm and the chaos of our climate interference.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2023
Now that the trial is over, we’ll find new things to be ambiguous about, new venues where indeterminacy can serve as an alibi for the same old cruelty, and for its newer iterations.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2022
Frayn suggests that indeterminacy would be a better word for the principle and indeterminability would be better still.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
