Indeterminate
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
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: {indeterminate},
{undetermined}] [ant: {determinate}]
2: 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; "the indeterminate number of
plant species in the jungle"
5: not leading to a definite ending or result; "an indeterminate
campaign"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
[1913 Webster]
{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
inflorescence}, {botryose inflorescence}, {centripetal
inflorescence}, and {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.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
100 Moby Thesaurus words for "indeterminate":
abstract, accidental, adventitious, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphic,
amorphous, anarchic, baggy, bland, blind, blobby, blurred, blurry,
broad, casual, causeless, chance, chancy, chaotic, characterless,
clear as mud, cloudy, collective, confused, contingent, dark,
destinal, dicey, dim, disordered, disorderly, fatal, fatidic,
featureless, fluky, foggy, formless, fortuitous, fuzzy, general,
generalized, generic, hazy, hit-or-miss, iffy, ill-defined,
imprecise, inaccurate, inchoate, incidental, incoherent,
indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indistinct,
inexact, inform, kaleidoscopic, lax, loose, lumpen, misty, muddy,
murky, nebulous, neutral, nondescript, nonspecific, obscure,
opaque, orderless, random, risky, shadowed forth, shadowy,
shapeless, stochastic, sweeping, transcendent, uncaused,
uncharacterized, unclear, undefined, undestined, undetermined,
undifferentiated, unexpected, unforeseeable, unforeseen,
unlooked-for, unordered, unorganized, unplain, unpredictable,
unspecified, vague, veiled, wide
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