 |
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 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 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
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |