Search the Dictionary

The act of defining; determination of the limits; as, the telescope accurate in definition.

Determinate; positive; final; conclusive; unconditional; express. A strict and definitive truth. Sir T. Browne. Some definitive . . . scheme of reconciliation. Prescott.

s each of whose extremities finishes in steps growing larger as they leave the center; -- termed also on degrees.

A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree. In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil…

cision; carefully considering the probable consequences of a step; circumspect; slow in determining; -- applied to persons; as, a deliberate judge or counselor. "These deliberate fools." Shak.

d proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair. Upon this rub, the English embassadors thought fit to demur. Hayward.

vidence is not sufficient in law to maintain the issue, and a reference to the court to determine the point. Bouvier.

n College, Oxford. [Written also demi.] He was elected into Magdalen College as a demy; a term by which that society denominates those elsewhere called "scholars," young men who partake of the founder's benefaction, and succeed in their order to vacant fellowships. Johnson.

A light, open, two-wheeled carriage for one horse; a kind of gig. ("The term and vehicle common about 1825." Latham.)

A denominative name or term; denominative verb. Jer. Taylor. Harkness.

To mark off; to denote. [Archaic] These terms denotate a longer time. Burton. What things should be denotated and signified by the color. Urquhart.

off. Proper names are preëminently denotative; telling us that such as object has such a term to denote it, but telling us nothing as to any single attribute. Latham.

Having a form intermediate between dentate and sinuate.

To hang in suspense; to be pending; to be undetermined or undecided; as, a cause depending in court. You will not think it unnatural that those who have an object depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. Burke.

The state of being influenced and determined by something; subjection (as of an effect to its cause). The cause of effects, and the dependence of one thing upon another. Bp. Burnet.

A suffix or terminal formative, much used in anatomical terms, and signifying skin, integument, covering; as, blastoderm, ectoderm, etc.

the ecliptic in passing southward. -- Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity.

ithout leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond. The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers. Bancroft.

A verb formed from another verb by a change of termination, and expressing the desire of doing that which is indicated by the primitive verb.

Termination; ending. Bp. Hall.