positive definite
Americanadjective
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(of a quadratic form) positive for all real values of the variables, where the values are not all zero.
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(of a matrix) displaying the coefficients of a positive definite quadratic form.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of positive definite
First recorded in 1905–10
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.
Anything positive, definite, susceptible of proof, no matter how distressing, would be more tolerable than this suspense, this maddening conjecture.
From Infelice by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
Why didn't He say something positive, definite, satisfactory, about another world?
From Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll - Latest by Ingersoll, Robert Green
And as these biological facts, scanty, indefinite, rudimentary, though they are, aid him so essentially; judge what must be the value to him of such facts when they become positive, definite, and exhaustive.
From Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library by Spencer, Herbert
His heart ached with a positive, definite pain that he was not younger, handsomer, and better equipped to win the love of his wife.
From He Fell in Love with His Wife by Roe, Edward Payson
“You mean that it has come as a positive definite occurrence, with a name and a date?”
From The Beast in the Jungle by James, Henry
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.
