See Also: Indefinite(medicine)
indefinite(dictionary)
INDEFINITE(law)
indefinite(dictionary)
INDEFINITE, NUMBER(law)
indefinite pronoun(dictionary)
indefinite article(dictionary)
LEGACY, INDEFINITE(law)
INDEFINITE PAYMENT, contracts(law)
INDEFINITE FAILURE OF ISSUE, executory devise(law)

indefinite (iou)



indefinite adjective & noun. M16.
[Latin indefinitus, formed as IN-3 + DEFINITE adjective.]
A. adjective.
I.
Having no clearly determined being or character; indeterminate, vague, undefined. M16.
O. Manning The smudge, pale and indefinite at first, deepened in colour. B. Emecheta He had to be satisfied with that indefinite answer.
Of undetermined extent, amount, or number; unlimited. L16.
U. Bentley She had been taken into a nursing home for an indefinite period.
b. Boundless, infinite. M17-M18.
II. spec.
Grammar. Of a word or tense: not defining or determining the thing, place, time, or manner to which it refers. M16.
Logic. Of a proposition: having no mark of quantity, not distinguishing between some and all. M16.
Botany.
a. Of stamens or other floral parts: too numerous to be easily counted. M19.
b. Of an inflorescence etc.: racemose and capable of continued (axial) growth. M19.
Special collocations: indefinite article the individualizing adjective a, an, or its equivalents in other languages. indefinite integral Math. an integral expressed without limits and hence containing an indeterminate additive constant.
b. noun. An indefinite thing, word, statement, etc.; a thing of indefinite nature or meaning, or which cannot be classed, specified, or defined. L16.
indefinitely adverb (a) to an indefinite extent, for an indefinite period; (b) in an indefinite manner, without specification, vaguely: LME.
indefiniteness noun L16.