de·ter·mi·nate (d -tûr m -nt)adj.1. Precisely limited or defined; definite: a determinate number; a determinate distance. 2. Conclusively settled; final. 3. Firm in purpose; resolute. 4. Botany a. Terminating in a flower and blooming in a sequence beginning with the uppermost or central flower; cymose: a determinate inflorescence. b. Not continuing indefinitely at the tip of an axis: determinate growth.
[Middle English, from Latin d termin tus, past participle of dterminre, to determine; see determine.]
de·termi·nate·ly adv. de·termi·nate·ness n. |
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| Yet when one of the two contraries is a constitutive property of the subject, as it is a constitutive property of fire to be hot, of snow to be white, it is necessary determinately that one of the two contraries, not one or the other, should be present in the subject; for fire cannot be cold, or snow black. But I cut short his appeal, and repulsed him so determinately, so decidedly, and with such a mixture of scornful indignation, tempered with cool, dispassionate sorrow and pity for his benighted mind, that he withdrew, astonished, mortified, and discomforted; and, a few days after, I heard that he had departed for London. Wilson," said George, coming up and sitting himself determinately down in front of him; "look at me, now. |