What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Determinate vs Define - What's the difference?

determinate | define |

In obsolete terms the difference between determinate and define

is that determinate is to bring to an end; to determine while define is to settle, decide (an argument etc.).

As an adjective determinate

is distinct, clearly defined.

determinate

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Distinct, clearly defined.
  • * Dryden
  • Quantity of words and a determinate number of feet.
  • Fixed, set, unvarying.
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts II:
  • hym have ye taken by the hondes of unrightewes persones, after he was delivered by the determinat counsell and foreknowledge of God, and have crucified and slayne hym [...].
  • (biology) Of growth: ending once a genetically predetermined structure has formed.
  • conclusive; decisive; positive
  • * Bible, Acts ii. 23
  • The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
  • (obsolete) Determined or resolved upon.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My determinate voyage.
  • Of determined purpose; resolute.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • More determinate to do than skillful how to do.

    Antonyms

    * (limited) indeterminate, nondeterminate * (biology) indeterminate

    Derived terms

    * determinateness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (philosophy) A single state of a particular determinable attribute.
  • * {{quote-journal, 2007, date=September 5, David Denby, Generating possibilities, Philosophical Studies, url=, doi=10.1007/s11098-007-9159-z, volume=141, issue=2, pages=
  • , passage=And since being negatively-charged and being positively-charged are determinates of the same determinable, [D5] will not permit us to infer worlds where anything negatively-charged is also positively-charged. }}

    Verb

    (determinat)
  • (obsolete) To bring to an end; to determine.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The sly, slow hours shall not determinate / The dateless limit of thy dear exile.
    ----

    define

    English

    (Definition)

    Verb

    (defin)
  • To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly.
  • * Sir (Isaac Newton)
  • Ringsvery distinct and well defined .
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston
  • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • (obsolete) To settle, decide (an argument etc.).
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , IV.3:
  • These warlike Champions, all in armour shine, / Assembled were in field the chalenge to define .
  • To express the essential nature of something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
  • , volume=101, issue=3, page=178, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Crinkly Curves , passage=Cantor defined a one-to-one correspondence between the points of the square and the points of the line segment. Every point in the square was associated with a single point in the segment; every point in the segment was matched with a unique point in the square.}}
  • To state the meaning of a word, phrase, sign, or symbol.
  • To describe, explain, or make definite and clear.
  • To demark sharply the outlines or limits of an area or concept.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=(Jan Sapp)
  • , volume=100, issue=2, page=164, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Race Finished , passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}
  • (mathematics) To establish the referent of a term or notation.
  • Derived terms

    * definable * definer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing, programming) A kind of macro in source code that replaces one text string with another wherever it occurs.
  • * 1996 , James Gosling, Henry McGilton, The Java Language Environment
  • From the computer programming perspective, Java looks like C and C++ while discarding the overwhelming complexities of those languages, such as typedefs, defines , preprocessor, unions, pointers, and multiple inheritance.
  • * 1999 , Ian Joyner, Objects unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++ (page 309)
  • Anyone who has attempted to do OO programming in a conventional language using defines will find out that it is impossible to realize the benefits easily, if at all, without compiler support.

    Anagrams

    * ----