Indefinite

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Indefinite \In*def"i*nite\, a. [L. indefinitus. See {In-} not,
     and {Definite}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The time of this last is left indefinite. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and
        unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as, indefinite
        space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite;
              though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so
              to human comprehension.               --Spectator.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Indefinite and omnipresent God,
              Inhabiting eternity.                  --W. Thompson
                                                    (1745).
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular
        enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower,
        and the like. Also, indeterminate.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  indefinite
       adj 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
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INDEFINITE. That which is undefined; uncertain.
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INDEFINITE, NUMBER. A number which may be increased or diminished at 
  pleasure. 
       2. When a corporation is composed of an indefinite number of persons, 
  any number of them consisting of a majority of those present may do any act 
  unless it be otherwise regulated by the charter or by-laws. See Definite 
  number.