definitive

Pluraldefinitives

1. 1
   adjective

   Settling a matter finally and conclusively, so that it is decided once and for all.

   The committee will hold a definitive vote on the budget next Tuesday.

   As the owner, she has the definitive say on who gets hired.

   Similarfinal, conclusive, decisive

   Oppositeprovisional, tentative

2. 2
   adjective

   Clear and certain, carrying full authority, and complete in every part.

   Her book is still the definitive biography of the composer, forty years after it came out.

   The museum published a definitive catalog of every painting the artist made.

   Similarauthoritative, standard, complete, classic

   Note

   Here the word names the last word on a subject, the account others are measured against. Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica already speaks of "a strict and definitive truth"; today it most naturally praises a finished work, such as a definitive biography or catalog. Where the "settling" meaning closes a question, this one describes a work so complete and authoritative that nobody needs to do it again.

3. 3
   adjective

   Defined explicitly, in clear and exact terms.

   The contract gives no definitive meaning to "reasonable effort," so each side reads it differently.

   Without definitive boundaries, the two farms argued over the same strip of land for years.

   Similarexplicit, precise, exact, clear

   Oppositevague, ambiguous

4. 4
   adjective

   Serving to limit or determine something.

   In the phrase "those three books," the word "those" is definitive, limiting the noun to particular books already in view.

   A definitive clause at the end of the rule restricts it to members over eighteen.

   Note

   This is the word's limiting use: it marks what draws a boundary around something, not what settles a question. Its natural home is grammar, where a definitive word narrows a noun to particular things, the same idea behind the grammatical noun. Outside that setting, limiting or restrictive is usually clearer, because most readers will hear the "final" meaning first.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   An ordinary postage stamp belonging to a series issued in every denomination, or reprinted whenever demand requires.

   The new definitive shows a lighthouse and comes in every value from one cent to five dollars.

   He keeps his definitives in a separate album from the colorful commemoratives.

   Oppositecommemorative

   Note

   The noun is collectors' shorthand for a definitive stamp. Because such a stamp runs through every value in its series and is reprinted whenever demand calls for it, one design can stay in print for years, and specialists hunt for the small differences in paper, perforation or shade between successive printings.

6. 6
   adjective

   Of postage stamps, issued for general everyday use rather than for commemorative purposes.

   The postal service released a new definitive series featuring native birds.

   Her collection mixes definitive and commemorative stamps from the 1950s.

   Oppositecommemorative

   Note

   Stamp collectors use the adjective to sort issues by purpose: a definitive series is the post office's everyday stock, set against commemorative issues that mark an occasion. It usually sits before stamp, issue or series, as in a new definitive issue, and collectors often drop the noun and speak of the stamps themselves simply as definitives.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   In grammar, a word that marks something as specific or limits its reference, such as a definite article or a demonstrative pronoun.

   In "that old house," the definitive "that" singles out one particular building.

   Today's grammar lesson covered definitives such as "the" and "those."

   Similardeterminer

   Note

   Grammarians use the noun for words that pick out a particular thing the listener can identify: the book, this book, those books. Its counterparts are indefinite words such as a and some, which leave the thing unidentified. Modern grammars typically group both kinds under the wider heading of determiners.

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