Dictionary entry

Determinate

Webster's Dictionary 1913

De‐ter″mi‐nate (?), a. [L. determinatus, p. p. of determinare. See Determine.] 1. Having defined limits; not uncertain or arbitrary; fixed; established; definite.

Quantity of words and a determinate number of feet. Dryden.

2. Conclusive; decisive; positive.

The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Acts ii. 23.

3. Determined or resolved upon.

My determinate voyage. Shak.

4. Of determined purpose; resolute.

More determinate to do than skillful how to do. Sir P. Sidney.

Determinate inflorescence(Bot.), that in which the flowering commences with the terminal bud of a stem, which puts a limit to its growth; — also called centrifugal inflorescence. — Determinate problem(Math.), a problem which admits of a limited number of solutions. — Determinate quantities, Determinate equations(Math.), those that are finite in the number of values or solutions, that is, in which the conditions of the problem or equation determine the number.