Definitions

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

  • adjective Not definite, especially.
  • adjective Unclear; vague.
  • adjective Lacking precise limits.
  • adjective Uncertain; undecided.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not definite; not defined; not precise; vague: as, an indefinite time, proposition, term, or sensation.
  • Infinite in number. The term was introduced by Pascal. Descartes distinguished between the indefinite, which has no particular limit, and the infinite, which is incomparably greater than anything having a limit. The distinction is considered as highly important by many metaphysicians.
  • Specifically, in botany, uncertain in number or too great to be easily counted: for example, the stamens when more than 10, and not clearly in multiples of the ground number of the flower, are said to be indefinite.
  • In logic, indeterminate in logical quantity; not distinguishing between “some” and “all.”
  • In grammar, not such as to make definite or determinate the person, thing, place, time, or manner in question: applied to certain adjectives, pronouns, and adverbs, as the indefinite article (see article, 11), any, some, such, anywhere, anyhow, otherwise, and to certain tenses of verbs, as the Greek aorist (which means ‘indefinite’) and the simple past in English.

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

  • adjective Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure
  • adjective Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited.
  • adjective rare Boundless; infinite.
  • adjective (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower, and the like. Also, indeterminate.
  • adjective (Gram.) the word a or an, used with nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.
  • adjective (Bot.) See Indeterminate inflorescence, under Indeterminate.
  • adjective (Logic) a statement whose subject is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or nondistribution; as, Man is mortal.
  • adjective (Logic) a negative term; as, the not-good.

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

  • adjective Without limit; forever, or until further notice; not definite.
  • adjective Vague or unclear.
  • adjective Undecided or uncertain.
  • adjective mathematics An integral without specified limits.

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

  • adjective not decided or not known
  • adjective vague or not clearly defined or stated

Etymologies

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Examples

  • If an examiner, when evaluating a claim term's disclosed definition, concludes the definition is not clear and precise and one of ordinary skill in the art would consider the term indefinite e.g., the definition's broadest reasonable interpretation results in more than one meaning and/or interpretation, then a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, would be appropriate.

    USPTO Issues Dual Memos on 112 Rejections Peter Zura 2008

  • If an examiner, when evaluating a claim term's disclosed definition, concludes the definition is not clear and precise and one of ordinary skill in the art would consider the term indefinite e.g., the definition's broadest reasonable interpretation results in more than one meaning and/or interpretation, then a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, would be appropriate.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Peter Zura 2008

  • You must know, if you would form an estimate of the Countess's heroic impudence, that a rumour was current in Lymport that the fair and well - developed Louisa Harrington, in her sixteenth year, did advisedly, and with the intention of rendering the term indefinite, entrust her guileless person to Mr. George Uplift's honourable charge.

    Evan Harrington — Volume 4 George Meredith 1868

  • You must know, if you would form an estimate of the Countess's heroic impudence, that a rumour was current in Lymport that the fair and well-developed Louisa Harrington, in her sixteenth year, did advisedly, and with the intention of rendering the term indefinite, entrust her guileless person to Mr. George Uplift's honourable charge.

    Evan Harrington — Complete George Meredith 1868

  • You must know, if you would form an estimate of the Countess's heroic impudence, that a rumour was current in Lymport that the fair and well-developed Louisa Harrington, in her sixteenth year, did advisedly, and with the intention of rendering the term indefinite, entrust her guileless person to Mr. George Uplift's honourable charge.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868

  • Roche argued that the disclosure in the specification of undefined "mutants, analogs and allelic variants" as falling within the scope of the term "human erythropoietin" was enough to render the term indefinite, and the Court disagreed.

    Patent Docs 2008

  • We haven't decided, thus, we are on what I call indefinite reproductive hold.

    The Future By Thirds 2008

  • Youth activists of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) began a hunger strike for what they called indefinite period in the hills and plains of Darjeeling district Friday demanding the creation of a separate Gorkhaland state.

    Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2009

  • Youth activists of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) began a hunger strike for what they called indefinite period in the hills and plains of Darjeeling district Friday demanding the creation of a separate Gorkhaland state.

    Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2009

  • At 24, having spent a third of his life in indefinite detention, he now knows that within a year he'll likely leave Guantanamo Bay and return to Canada.

    Daphne Eviatar: The Curtain Closes on a Show Trial at Guantanamo Bay Daphne Eviatar 2010

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