DictionaryAI

determine

verb
Saydi-TUR-min/dɪˈtɝmɪn//dɪˈtɜː(ɹ).mɪn/

Formsdetermines, determining, determined

7 meanings of determine

Practice

  1. 1
    find outverbtransitive
    To ascertain definitely; to figure out or conclude something through analysis, calculation, or investigation.

    Investigators worked for weeks to determine the cause of the crash.

    Using satellite data, researchers determined that the glacier had retreated two miles.

    UsageOften followed by a clause: determine whether, how or what, or determine that something is true.

    Similarestablish, ascertain, discover, identify, find

  2. 2
    controlverbtransitive
    To fix the form or character of something; to shape, regulate, or settle how it will be.

    Market forces largely determine the price of grain.

    The shape of the riverbed determined the city's early growth.

    UsageOften passive with by: determined by the weather. An adverb can name the force: economically determined.

    Similardictate, govern, shape, control, regulate

    Note

    Here the verb means to cause, not to find out, and it is most at home in the passive: a soul's character "determined by the character of its God", or dramas "economically determined" in Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift. Keep it apart from the "find out" meaning: investigators determine a cause, but a cause determines an outcome.

  3. 3
    make up mindverbtransitive or intransitive
    To resolve firmly to do something, or to lead someone to settle on a particular course of action.

    An early failure will often determine a young writer to work twice as hard on the next book.

    He determined to sell the farm after the second drought.

    UsageMost often as the adjective: be determined to do something. The verb determine to is rarer; decide to is the everyday choice.

  4. 4
    settle (dispute)verbtransitive
    To bring a question or dispute to a conclusion; to settle or decide it, especially by an authoritative or judicial ruling.

    The Supreme Court will determine whether the law can stand.

    The committee determined the appeal in the employee's favor.

    Similardecide, settle, resolve, adjudicate, judge

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    set limitsverbtransitive
    To set or mark the boundaries or limits of something; to fix its extent.

    Old stone walls determine the limits of each pasture.

    The treaty determined the new frontier along the river.

    Similardefine, fix, mark, demarcate, delimit

    Note

    The root picture inside the word: Latin terminus, a bound or end, so to determine is first to draw the line where something stops. The limits need not be on a map. The King James Bible of 1611 has God determining appointed times, and Francis Bacon says knowledge has been determined by sight, meaning bounded by it. The same terminus gives the "ending" meaning, because a limit is also an end.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

  2. 6
    verb
    To define or limit a general concept by adding a differentia, a distinguishing characteristic that narrows it to a more specific class.
  3. 7
    verb
    To bring something to an end or terminate it; also, to come to an end or expire, now chiefly in legal contexts.

Practice

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Origin

Latin 'determinare' ('to bound, limit, fix, determine') was built from 'de' and 'terminare' ('to limit'), which itself rests on 'terminus' ('bound, limit, end'). The word passed into Old French as 'determiner' and then into Middle English as 'determinen'.