2 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Indefinite \In*def"i*nite\, a. [L. indefinitus. See {In-} not,
and {Definite}.]
1. Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not
explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise;
uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; as, an indefinite
time, plan, etc.
It were to be wished that . . . men would leave off
that indefinite way of vouching, ``the chymists say
this,'' or ``the chymists affirm that.'' --Boyle.
The time of this last is left indefinite. --Dryden.
2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and
unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as indefinite
space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.
Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite;
though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so
to human comprehension. --Spectator.
3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]
Indefinite and omnipresent God, Inhabiting eternity.
--W. Thompson
(1745).
4. (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular
enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower,
and the like. Also, indeterminate.
{Indefinite article} (Gram.), the word a or an, used with
nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.
{Indefinite inflorescence}. (Bot.) See {Indeterminate
inflorescence}, under {Indeterminate}.
{Indefinite proposition} (Logic), a statement whose subject
is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or
nondistribution; as, Man is mortal.
{Indefinite term} (Logic), a negative term; as, the not-good.
Syn: Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate;
loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
indefinite
adj 1: vague or not clearly defined or stated; "must you be so
indefinite?"; "amorphous blots of color having vague
and indefinite edges"; "he would not answer so
indefinite a proposal" [ant: {definite}]
2: not decided or not known; "were indefinite about their
plans"; "plans are indefinite"