determinate

/dɪˈtɜrmənɪt/

Other forms: determinately

Do you have a determinate personal budget? Welcome to the club. So do most people, unless you happen to be Warren Buffet or Bill Gates. Anything determinate has a fixed limit to it.

Slightly differently, determinate can also refer to something that has a clearly visible limit of form. For example, although no two snowflakes are ever exactly alike, they all share a certain "determinate form," that is they all have six arms.

Definitions of determinate

1. adjective

   supplying or being a final or conclusive settlement
   “a determinate answer to the problem”

   synonyms: definitive

   conclusive

   forming an end or termination; especially putting an end to doubt or question
2. adjective

   precisely determined or limited or defined; especially fixed by rule or by a specific and constant cause
   “a determinate distance”

   “a determinate number”

   “determinate variations in animals”

   synonyms:

   fixed

   (of a number) having a fixed and unchanging value

   antonyms:

   indeterminate

   not precisely determined or established; not fixed or known in advance

   uncertain

   not established beyond doubt; still undecided or unknown

   inconclusive

   not conclusive; not putting an end to doubt or question

   indeterminable, undeterminable

   not capable of being definitely decided or ascertained

   cost-plus

   determining payment based on the actual cost of production plus an agreed-upon fee or rate of profit

   open-ended

   allowing for a spontaneous response
3. adjective

   not continuing to grow indefinitely at the apex
   “determinate growth”

   synonyms:

   cymose

   having a usually flat-topped flower cluster in which the main and branch stems each end in a flower that opens before those below it or to its side

   antonyms:

   indeterminate

   having a capacity for continuing to grow at the apex

   racemose

   having stalked flowers along an elongated stem that continue to open in succession from below as the stem continues to grow