determination
Pluraldeterminations
- 1Firmness of purpose; the strength of mind to keep pursuing a goal in spite of difficulty.
His quiet determination carried the team through three losing seasons.
She faced the setback with the same determination that got her this far.
Similarresolve, perseverance, persistence, tenacity, willpower
Oppositeirresolution, indecision, hesitancy, vacillation
Note
Resolve as a trait of character: here the word is usually uncountable and pairs readily with words that stress its strength, such as sheer determination or quiet determination. Followed by a to-infinitive (determination to win), it begins to shade into a settled resolve, which names one fixed purpose rather than a quality a person has.
- 2The act, process, or result of measuring something accurately, such as its length, volume, weight, or intensity.
The determination of the sample's density required three separate readings.
Repeated determinations gave slightly different concentration values.
Similarmeasurement, calculation, assessment, quantification
Note
A word of scientific reporting, and countable: each measurement is a determination, so a study can speak of several determinations of the same quantity. The usual frame is the determination of plus the thing measured, as in the wavelength of light or the salt in sea water. Behind this and the word's other uses is plain determine + -ation, from Latin dēterminātiō.
- 3A fixed resolution or purpose arrived at after deliberation; a conclusion firmly settled upon.
The board reached a clear determination to expand into new markets.
Nothing could shake his determination to repay every last debt.
Similarresolution, resolve, decision, intention, commitment
Note
One settled conclusion, counted rather than possessed: a person or body reaches a determination. Reach a determination is the standard collocation. With a tribunal as its subject, the phrase sits close to a court's ruling. The difference lies in emphasis: this sense stresses the conclusion arrived at, while the ruling stresses the official act that ends a dispute.
- 4
- 5The act of defining a concept by stating the essential features that constitute it.
The determination of 'justice' proceeded by setting out its essential elements.
Philosophers begin with the determination of a concept before testing its limits.
Similardefinition, characterization, specification
- 6Direction or tendency toward a certain end; the impulse that drives something that way.
The argument has a determination toward one inevitable conclusion.
Every part of the design shows a determination toward simplicity.
Similartendency, direction, inclination, drift, trend
- 7The addition of a distinguishing feature to a concept, narrowing the range of things it applies to.
The determination of 'figure' by the feature 'three-sided' yields the concept of a triangle.
Successive determination of a broad concept narrows it toward a single kind.
Similarspecification, specialization
Oppositegeneralization
Note
Here a concept is narrowed rather than defined: add "three-sided" to "figure" and fewer things qualify. Its natural opposite is generalization, which strips features away and widens the reach. Keep it apart from the defining sense, which sets out what a concept already contains. This one adds something new, and each addition shrinks the class the concept covers.
- 8The act of assigning an object (such as a mineral, plant, or animal) to the species or group it belongs to; classification.
The determination of the fern required a close look at its spore structures.
Field guides assist in the determination of unfamiliar plants.
Similaridentification, classification
Note
Naturalists use it for identifying specimens. One thanks a friend "for the determination of most of these shells." The object is the specimen, not the species: you determine the shell, and the result is its name. It is countable too, so a collection can carry many separate determinations, one for each specimen placed in its group.
- 9A flow, rush, or tendency of something toward a particular part, especially of blood to a region of the body.
The physician noted a determination of blood to the lungs.
A sudden determination of blood to the head left the patient dizzy.
Note
The bodily cousin of direction toward an end: here what moves is a fluid, and the classic frame is a determination of blood to the head. The pattern is fixed: determination of plus the fluid, then to plus the part of the body. The phrase reads as a physician's description of where the flow is gathering.
- 10The bringing of something to an end; its termination or limit.
The determination of the tenancy occurred at the end of the fixed term.
Upon the determination of the trust, the property passed to the heirs.
Similartermination, expiry, expiration, end, cessation
Oppositecommencement, inception, creation, beginning
Note
Law keeps alive a sense that is otherwise obsolete: the ending of a lease or similar interest. HM Land Registry in 2021 writes of a lease "determined by notice, forfeiture or frustration" and of incumbrances ending "with the determination of the lease." Shakespeare used the same lease language in Sonnet 13 (1609), wishing that beauty held in lease might "find no determination." Outside legal writing, say termination or expiry.
Practice
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Origin
This word came through Middle English determinacion and Old French determinacion from Latin dēterminātiō. It is formed from 'determine' plus the suffix '-ation'.