Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that determines.
  • noun Grammar A word belonging to a group of noun modifiers, which includes articles, demonstratives, possessive adjectives, and words such as any, both, or whose, and, in English, occupying the first position in a noun phrase or following another determiner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who decides or determines.
  • noun A determinant bachelor in a university. See determinant, 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, determines or decides.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun grammar A member of a class of words functioning in a noun phrase to identify or distinguish a referent without describing or modifying it. Examples of determiners include articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, those), cardinal numbers (three, fifty), and indefinite numerals (most, any, each).
  • noun grammar A dependent function in a noun phrase marking the NP as definite or indefinite. This function is usually filled by words in the determinative class but may be filled by other elements such as a genitive pronoun.
  • noun Something that determines, or helps someone to determine, something else.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an argument that is conclusive
  • noun one of a limited class of noun modifiers that determine the referents of noun phrases
  • noun a determining or causal element or factor

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to determine + -er

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word determiner.

Examples

  • You'll just find MORE means-plus-fxn type language, e.g., the determiner is a "processor."

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • You'll just find MORE means-plus-fxn type language, e.g., the determiner is a "processor."

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • You'll just find MORE means-plus-fxn type language, e.g., the determiner is a "processor."

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • You'll just find MORE means-plus-fxn type language, e.g., the determiner is a "processor."

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • "determiner" in the germ-plasm; that by suitable matings a breeder could rid a stream of germ-plasm of almost any determiner he wished; and that the corresponding unit character would thereupon disappear from the visible make-up of the individual.

    Applied Eugenics Paul Popenoe 1933

  • The internet's changed everything, of course; the authoritative voice has evolved into a conversation between writer and audience, and the writer now leads the community discussion rather than acting as a single determiner, a unilateral judge.

    The Authorship Conflict SVGL 2009

  • The internet's changed everything, of course; the authoritative voice has evolved into a conversation between writer and audience, and the writer now leads the community discussion rather than acting as a single determiner, a unilateral judge.

    Archive 2009-04-01 SVGL 2009

  • Normally, a countable noun (like heart) requires a determiner (a, the, my, this …) But ellipsis seems to be quite common in this labelling function.

    A is for Articles (2) « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • What the G20 shows us is that money is an ever increasing objective determiner of who has the power in society.

    Money, money, money, it’s a bankers’ world… « My Liberal Democrat Political Ramblings… 2009

  • Keep the black rifles and enjoy them, they are fun, but recognize that public opinion will be the greatest determiner of the future of our sports so tread lightly.

    Why I'm Not Buying a Black Rifle 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Group of words such as definite and indefinite article, any, some etc.

    June 17, 2008

  • Term used in the CGEL for the functional position at the front of a noun phrase (often called specifier by others). It can be filled by either determinatives (as they call them, members of the word class containing a, the, one, two, each, no, all etc.) or by genitive noun phrases (my, your, Mary's, the Prince of Denmark's, the bloke I was talking to's, etc.).

    August 15, 2008