Indefinite
[ɪn'defɪnɪt] or [ɪn'dɛfɪnət]
Definition
(adj.) not decided or not known; 'were indefinite about their plans'; 'plans are indefinite' .
(adj.) vague or not clearly defined or stated; 'must you be so indefinite?'; 'amorphous blots of color having vague and indefinite edges'; 'he would not answer so indefinite a proposal' .
Inputed by Jeanine--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; as, an indefinite time, plan, etc.
(a.) Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as indefinite space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
(a.) Boundless; infinite.
(a.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower, and the like. Also, indeterminate.
Typist: Waldo
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Indeterminate, undefined, indistinct, confused.[2]. Vague, obscure, doubtful, uncertain, equivocal, unsettled, loose.
Checked by Chiquita
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See DEFINITE]
Edited by Alison
Definition
adj. not limited: not precise or certain: (logic) indeterminate in logical quantity.—adv. Indef′initely.—n. Indef′initeness.
Typist: Nelda
Examples
- I cannot precisely define what they expected, but it was something pleasant: not perhaps that day or that month, but at an indefinite future period. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- What then checks an indefinite increase in the number of species? Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Mr Boffin takes Mr John Rokesmith at his word, in postponing to some indefinite period, the consideration of salary. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- His indefinite nausea would not let him stay. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- For now he felt like a pair of scales, the half of which tips down and down into an indefinite void. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- However, it is agreed that they must 'work' to the last, and that if they did not work, something indefinite would happen. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- One-thousandth part of the acid introduced into a vat of gelatine or into decoctions of animal matter, prevents their undergoing decomposition for an indefinite period of time. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- And at the best, how indefinite and unsatisfactory, only to know so vaguely what they are! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Hitherto the court at Byzantium had possessed a certain indefinite authority over the Pope. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Any truth is better than indefinite doubt. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- I should be happy, myself, to propose two months--three--an indefinite period, in fact--but I have a partner. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The direct action of changed conditions leads to definite or indefinite results. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- An abstract and indefinite future is in control with all which that connotes in depreciation of present power and opportunity. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It amused him to think of the van der Luydens' having carried her off to Skuytercliff on a second visit, and this time for an indefinite period. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- If properly treated, a negative remains good for years, and will serve for an indefinite number of positives or true photographs. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- A pause of some seconds succeeded, filled up by the low, vague hum of numbers; Miss Miller walked from class to class, hushing this indefinite sound. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- There is an indefinite sense that he must be invading some region of singularity, good or bad. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But they were all vague and indefinite with one another, stiffened in the fate that moved them apart. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I thought of her as twelve--fourteen--an indefinite date; but she seemed a child. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- If so, the answer was indefinite and vague. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The troops were in a healthy climate, and where they could subsist for an indefinite period even if their line back to Vera Cruz should be cut off. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- But that expression of 'violently in love' is so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- He has decided to leave Europe for an indefinite time. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- His stay became indefinite. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- The judgment, when it at last came, was as indefinite as what had gone before it. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- More than that, there's no saying when we may come home again; and it would never do to take him away for an indefinite time. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- By the Ferris wheel the almost indefinite application of the tension spoke to wheels of large dimensions has been vindicated, the expense being far smaller than that of the stiff spoke. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It was a happy brooding, although tinged with regret at being separated for an indefinite time from her gentle aunt and dear cousin. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- It makes a great difference whether the general expectation of knowledge, as this indefinite feeling may be termed, is based upon a sound judgment. Plato. The Republic.
- Miss Bella Wilfer becomes an inmate, for an indefinite period, of the eminently aristocratic dwelling. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Typist: Nelda