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determine

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: détermine, déterminé, and determiné

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English determinen, from Old French determiner, French déterminer, from Latin determināre (“to bound, limit, prescribe, fix, determine”), from de + termināre (“to limit”), from terminus (“bound, limit, end”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈtɜː(ɹ).mɪn/
    • Audio (UK):(file)
  • (Indic, spelling pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɖeʈa(ɾ).maɪn/, /ɖiˈʈɜː(ɾ)ˌmaɪn/

Verb

determine (third-person singular simple present determines, present participle determining, simple past and past participle determined)

  1. To set the boundaries or limits of.
    • 1611, Bible, KJV edition, Acts 17:26:
      [God] hath determined the times before appointed.
    • 1844, Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England:
      The knowledge of men hitherto hath been determined by the view or sight.
  2. To ascertain definitely; to figure out, find out, or conclude by analyzing, calculating, or investigating.
    • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
  3. To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle.
    • 1741 July 8, Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God:
      The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God.
    • 1913, W. Black, 1913 Webster's Dictionary:
      something divinely beautiful […] that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life
    • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 259:
      These dramas may appear purely internal but they are perhaps economically determined … when people think they are being so subtly inventive or creative they merely reflect society's general need for economic growth.
  4. To fix the course of; to impel and direct; with a remoter object preceded by to.
    The news of his father's illness determined him to depart immediately.
  5. To bring to a conclusion, as a question or controversy; to settle authoritative or judicial sentence; to decide.
    The court has determined the cause.
  6. To resolve (to do something); to establish a fixed intention; to cause (something) to come to a conclusion or decision; to lead.
    I determined to go home at once.
  7. (logic) To define or limit by adding a differentia.
  8. (transitive or intransitive, law, otherwise obsolete) To bring to an end, finish; to come to an end, stop, end.
    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii (5)], page 94, column 2:
      Novv, vvhere is hee, that vvill not ſtay ſo long
      Till his Friend ſickneſſe hath determin'd me?
    • 1728, Samuel Johnson, The State of Affairs in Lilliput:
      […] whose assemblies are continued […] for the space of seven moons, after which their authority determines, and writs are issued for new elections.
    • 1908 August 1, UK Parliament, “Irish Universities Act, 1908”, in Irish Statute Book‎, § 4(1):
      The statutes for the general government of the new universities ... shall be made in the first instance ... by the Dublin Commissioners appointed under this Act, and ... by the Belfast Commissioners appointed under this Act, and, after the powers of these commissioners determine, by the governing bodies of the universities and colleges.
    • 2021, HM Land Registry, Practice guide 26: leases – determination‎, archived from the original on 4 October 2021:
      If a lease is determined by notice, forfeiture or frustration, all incumbrances will normally end automatically with the determination of the lease and can therefore be ignored.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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Galician

Verb

determine

  1. inflection of determinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Ladin

Verb

determine

  1. first-person singular present indicative of determiner
  2. first-person singular present subjunctive of determiner
  3. third-person singular present subjunctive of determiner
  4. third-person plural present subjunctive of determiner

Portuguese

Verb

determine

  1. inflection of determinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

Verb

determine

  1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of determina

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /deteɾˈmine/ [d̪e.t̪eɾˈmi.ne]
  • Rhymes: -ine
  • Syllabification: de‧ter‧mi‧ne

Verb

determine

  1. inflection of determinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

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