Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Indefinite?

\In*def"i*nite\, a. [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.