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
It should be a bold premise, but there is a curious contrast in this film between the richly defined images and the story’s ethical indeterminacy.
From New York Times • Sep. 30, 2021
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.
