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Indefinite article   /ɪndˈɛfənət ˈɑrtəkəl/   Listen
adjective
Indefinite  adj.  
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."" "The time of this last is left indefinite."
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."
3.
Boundless; infinite. (R.) "Indefinite and omnipresent God, Inhabiting eternity."
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.
Synonyms: Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate; loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Indefinite article" Quotes from Famous Books



... matter. The Provencal has not even the formal distinction of the nouns in al, which in French make their plural in aux. Cheval in Provencal is chivau, and the plural is like the singular. A curious fact is the use of uni or unis, the plural of the indefinite article, as a sign of the dual number; and this is ...
— Frederic Mistral - Poet and Leader in Provence • Charles Alfred Downer
... to the English definite article the. There is in Gaelic no indefinite article corresponding to the English a or an. The inflections of the article are but few. They depend on the gender, the number, and the case, of the noun to which it is prefixed. Hence the article is declined by gender, number, ...
— Elements of Gaelic Grammar • Alexander Stewart
... one time spelt nawl by a confusion with the indefinite article before it), a small ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 - "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" • Various
... clerk-schoolmaster was obliged to relinquish his scholastic duties and make way for a certified teacher. One day he heard the new master tell his pupils: "'A' is an indefinite article. 'A' is one, and can only be applied to one thing. You cannot say a cats or a dogs; but only a cat, a dog." The clerk at once reported the matter to his rector. "Here's a pretty fellow you've got to keep school! He says that you can only apply the ...
— The Parish Clerk (1907) • Peter Hampson Ditchfield
... is no indefinite article in Esperanto. Patro, a Father; or merely Father, as the case ...
— The Esperantist, Vol. 1, No. 3 • Various


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