indefinite
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
indefinite
adj 1: 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" [ant: {definite}]
2: not decided or not known; "were indefinite about their
plans"; "plans are indefinite"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Indefinite \In*def"i*nite\, a. [L. indefinitus. See {In-} not,
and {Definite}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. 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.
[1913 Webster]
It were to be wished that . . . men would leave off
that indefinite way of vouching, "the chymists say
this," or "the chymists affirm that." --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
The time of this last is left indefinite. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and
unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as, indefinite
space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
[1913 Webster]
Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite;
though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so
to human comprehension. --Spectator.
[1913 Webster]
3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
Indefinite and omnipresent God,
Inhabiting eternity. --W. Thompson
(1745).
[1913 Webster]
4. (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular
enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower,
and the like. Also, indeterminate.
[1913 Webster]
{Indefinite article} (Gram.), the word a or an, used with
nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.
{Indefinite inflorescence}. (Bot.) See {Indeterminate
inflorescence}, under {Indeterminate}.
{Indefinite proposition} (Logic), a statement whose subject
is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or
nondistribution; as, Man is mortal.
{Indefinite term} (Logic), a negative term; as, the not-good.
Syn: Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate;
loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
INDEFINITE, NUMBER. A number which may be increased or diminished at
pleasure.
2. When a corporation is composed of an indefinite number of persons,
any number of them consisting of a majority of those present may do any act
unless it be otherwise regulated by the charter or by-laws. See Definite
number.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
134 Moby Thesaurus words for "indefinite":
abstract, aleatoric, aleatory, ambiguous, amorphic, amorphous,
anarchic, baffling, baggy, bewildering, bland, blear, bleared,
bleary, blobby, blurred, blurry, boundless, broad, chance, chancy,
chaotic, characterless, collective, confused, confusing, cryptic,
dark, dim, disordered, disorderly, endless, enduring, equivocal,
faint, featureless, feeble, filmy, foggy, formless, fuzzy, general,
generalized, generic, half-seen, half-visible, hazy, hesitant,
hit-or-miss, ill-defined, immeasurable, imprecise, inaccurate,
incalculable, inchoate, incoherent, inconspicuous, inconstant,
indecisive, indefinable, indelible, indestructible, indeterminable,
indeterminate, indistinct, indistinguishable, ineffaceable,
ineradicable, inexact, inexplicit, infinite, inform, kaleidoscopic,
lax, limitless, loose, low-profile, lumpen, measureless,
merely glimpsed, misty, mystifying, nebulous, neutral, nondescript,
nonspecific, obscure, orderless, out of focus, pale, permanent,
puzzling, random, semivisible, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless,
shilly-shallying, stochastic, sub judice, sweeping, unbounded,
uncertain, uncharacterized, unclear, uncountable, uncounted,
undecided, undefinable, undefined, undestined, undestroyable,
undetermined, undifferentiated, unerasable, unfixed, unknown,
unlimited, unmeasured, unordered, unorganized, unplain,
unrecognizable, unsettled, unspecific, unspecified, unsure,
vacillating, vague, veiled, wavering, weak, wide, wishy-washy
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