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/dˈɛfənət/ Listen

adjective

Definite adj.

1.

Having certain or distinct; determinate in extent or greatness; limited; fixed; as, definite dimensions; a definite measure; a definite period or interval. "Elements combine in definite proportions."

2.

Having certain limits in signification; determinate; certain; precise; fixed; exact; clear; as, a definite word, term, or expression.

3.

Determined; resolved. (Obs.)

4.

Serving to define or restrict; limiting; determining; as, the definite article.

Definite article (Gram.), the article the, which is used to designate a particular person or thing, or a particular class of persons or things; also called a definitive. See Definitive, n. - -

Definite inflorescence. (Bot.) See Determinate inflorescence, under Determinate.

Law of definite proportions (Chem.), the essential law of chemical combination that every definite compound always contains the same elements in the same proportions by weight; and, if two or more elements form more than one compound with each other, the relative proportions of each are fixed. Compare Law of multiple proportions, under Multiple.

noun

Definite n. A thing defined or determined. (Obs.)

See images of 'Definite'

Etymology of 'Definite'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Definite" Quotes from Famous Books

... care was for the existing generation, rather than for a future one, which would have its own friends. She usually declined trammelling herself with annual subscriptions to charities, preferring to keep her freedom from year to year, and to achieve definite objects by liberal bounty, rather than to extend partial help over a large surface which she ...

— Atlantic Monthly Volume 7, No. 40, February, 1861 • Various

... was to use his own judgment in the Wade case. Geary laboured with Hiram Wade all that afternoon. The old fellow mistrusted him on account of his youth and his inexperience, was unwilling to arrive at any definite conclusion without the sanction of Geary's older associate, and for a long time would listen to nothing less than ten thousand dollars, crying out that his gray hairs had been dishonoured, and striking his palm upon his forehead. Nothing could move him. He, also, had his ...

— Vandover and the Brute • Frank Norris

... that I'd like to believe your theory was correct. But isn't it a little premature to be so definite about it?" ...

— The Monster • S. M. Tenneshaw

... light broke through her darkness and revealed to her a definite course. This man must not be judged, at least by her, without a hearing. Why should she not go to him? Why not challenge him with the story? If he were the murderer, perhaps he would strike her to the earth, and add her to the list of his victims. ...

— The Hound From The North • Ridgwell Cullum

... in Chicago, the chief doorway into Wisconsin, and giving them advice of a general character in regard to the purchase of a farm in Wisconsin. While he is not in a position to recommend the purchase of a specific piece of land, the advice is pretty concrete and definite. His one thought very properly is the welfare of the settler, and he believes that it is in the interest of Wisconsin not to get as many settlers as possible, but to get settlers who, in his own words, "stick"—in other words, who will succeed. ...

— A Stake in the Land • Peter Alexander Speek

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