determinate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The French Revolution then dynamited Europe’s old order and dynamized society as a collective organism, evolving in a “quasi-biological and determinate way.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

Jones was given an extended determinate sentence, where an offender receives a fixed jail term and an extended period on licence after their release.

From BBC • Nov. 22, 2023

I would be excited to add a larger system that accommodates larger plants like compact dwarf or determinate tomatoes.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 27, 2023

You argue that there's no one right way to do things, no determinate outcome, but that a tradition can evolve out of diverse views coming into conflict with with some kind of self-regulation.

From Salon • Sep. 11, 2022

Substantial Forms, Occult Qualities, Intentional Species, Idiosyncrasies, Sympathies and Antipathies of Things, are exploded...because they are only empty Sounds, Words whereof no Man can form a certain and determinate Idea.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton