- 1不確定的、未定的、含糊不明的
If something is indeterminate, you cannot know it definitely or exactly, because it is not clearly fixed. An indeterminate number of people showed up — you do not know how many, and maybe there is no exact count. An indeterminate colour sits between two colours. The everyday core is “not clearly decided and not clearly known.” It is a formal adjective. Extra uses are real, not trivia: in law, an indeterminate sentence has no fixed end date. In maths, an indeterminate form (like 0/0) is not yet a number. talk about indeterminate tomatoes — plants that keep growing and making fruit instead of stopping at a set size. Though actually, do not use it for a person who has not chosen yet; that person is undecided. Indeterminate is for the result, the amount, the category, or the rule — the thing that has no sharp edge. Close to , but indeterminate describes the thing; describes the failure to calculate it.
組成in- (not) + determinate (fixed, clearly decided). The idea is “not fixed.”
同家族的字
- determinethe verb: to find out or to decide
- determinationshares the “decide / fix” root — not the “strong will” meaning of determination
- indeterminacythe noun: the state of not being fixed
- indeterminableshares the same root; that one means you cannot work the answer out
原始詞典資料9 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
indeterminateadj/ɪndɪˈtɜː(ɹ)mɪnət/
- 1
Not accurately determined or determinable.
- Four miles to the east of Warmington, the River Cherwell flows into Cropredy under a bridge that in 1644 was the scene of another Civil War battle - with an equally indeterminate result.
- 2
Imprecise or vague.
- 3
mathematical-analysismathematicssciencesNot definitively or precisely determined, because of the presence of infinity or zero symbols used in any of several improper combinations.
- 4
biologynatural-sciencesWith no genetically defined end, and thus theoretically limitless.
- 5
biologybotanynatural-sciencesNot topped with some form of terminal bud.
- 6
Intersex.
- 7
architectureDesigned to allow the incorporation of future changes whose nature is not yet known.
- It bears an affinity to the problem of indeterminate architecture—the indeterminate residential area.
indeterminatenoun/ɪndɪˈtɜː(ɹ)mɪnət/
- 1
algebramathematicssciencesA symbol that resembles a variable or parameter but is used purely formally and neither signifies nor is ever assigned a particular value;
- 1862, H. J. Stephen Smith, Report on the Theory of Numbers—Part III, Report of the 31st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, British Association for the Advancement of Science, page 292, The form is linear, quadratic, cubic, biquadratic or quartic, quintic, &c., according to its order in respect of the indeterminates it contains; and binary, ternary, quaternary, &c., according to the number of its indeterminates. Thus x²+y² is a binary quadratic form, x³+y³+z³-3xyz is a ternary cubic form.
- 1892, Henry B. Fine, Kronecker and His Arithmetical Theory of the Algebraic Equation, Thomas S. Fiske, Harold Jacoby (editors), Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, Volume 1, New York Mathematical Society, page 179, Such a factor is therefore an integral function of x and the indeterminates u_1,u_2,…u_n with coefficients belonging to the domain of rationality (R',R,..) and may be represented by g(x,u_1,u_2,..u_n).
- 2
algebramathematicssciencesA symbol that resembles a variable or parameter but is used purely formally and neither signifies nor is ever assigned a particular value; (loose sense) a variable.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。