Definitions for: Indeterminate


[adj] not clearly understood or expressed; "an indeterminate turn of phrase"; "an impulse to go off and fight certain obscure battles of his own spirit"-Anatole Broyard; "their descriptions of human behavior become vague, dull, and unclear"- P.A.Sorokin; "vague...forms of speech...have so long passed for mysteries of science"- John Locke
[adj] not leading to a definite ending or result; "an indeterminate campaign"
[adj] not capable of being determined; "an indeterminate number of plant species in the jungle"
[adj] not precisely determined or established; not fixed or known in advance; "of indeterminate age"; "a zillion is a large indeterminate number"; "an indeterminate point of law"; "the influence of environment is indeterminate"; "an indeterminate future"
[adj] (botany) having a capacity for continuing to grow at the apex; "an indeterminate stem"
[adj] of uncertain or ambiguous nature; "the equivocal (or indeterminate) objects painted by surrealists"



Webster (1913) Definition: In`de*ter"mi*nate, a. [L. indeterminatus.]
Not determinate; not certain or fixed; indefinite; not
precise; as, an indeterminate number of years. --Paley.

Indeterminate analysis (Math.), that branch of analysis
which has for its object the solution of indeterminate
problems.

Indeterminate coefficients (Math.), coefficients
arbitrarily assumed for convenience of calculation, or to
facilitate some artifice of analysis. Their values are
subsequently determined.

Indeterminate equation (Math.), an equation in which the
unknown quantities admit of an infinite number of values,
or sets of values. A group of equations is indeterminate
when it contains more unknown quantities than there are
equations.

Indeterminate inflorescence (Bot.), a mode of inflorescence
in which the flowers all arise from axillary buds, the
terminal bud going on to grow and sometimes continuing the
stem indefinitely; -- called also {acropetal, botryose,
centripetal, & indefinite inflorescence}. --Gray.

Indeterminate problem (Math.), a problem which admits of an
infinite number of solutions, or one in which there are
fewer imposed conditions than there are unknown or
required results.

Indeterminate quantity (Math.), a quantity which has no
fixed value, but which may be varied in accordance with
any proposed condition.

Indeterminate series (Math.), a series whose terms proceed
by the powers of an indeterminate quantity, sometimes also
with indeterminate exponents, or indeterminate
coefficients. -- In`de*ter"mi*nate*ly adv. --
In`de*ter"mi*nate*ness, n.

Synonyms: ambiguous, cost-plus, equivocal, inconclusive, indeterminable, obscure, open-ended, racemose, unclear, undeterminable, undetermined, vague

Antonyms: determinate

See Also: uncertain

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