Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Indeterminate"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Indeterminate \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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

indeterminate
adj 1: 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" [syn: {undetermined}]
[ant: {determinate}]
2: (botany) having a capacity for continuing to grow at the
apex; "an indeterminate stem" [ant: {determinate}]
3: of uncertain or ambiguous nature; "the equivocal (or
indeterminate) objects painted by surrealists"
4: not capable of being determined; "an indeterminate number of
plant species in the jungle"
5: not leading to a definite ending or result; "an
indeterminate campaign"
6: 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 [syn: {obscure},
{vague}]


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