 3 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
indefinite
adjective
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.0.44 [gcide]:
Indefinite \In*def"i*nite\, adjective [L. indefinitus. See {In-} not,
and {Definite}.]
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.
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.
The time of this last is left indefinite. --Dryden.
2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and
unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as, indefinite
space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite;
though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so
to human comprehension. --Spectator.
3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]
Indefinite and omnipresent God,
Inhabiting eternity. --W. Thompson
(1745).
4. (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular
enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower,
and the like. Also, indeterminate.
{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.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
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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