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indeterminate

indeterminate

1 7.6
Able to keep growing at the tip of a plant
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪndɪˈtɜːrmɪnət/
  • Specialized
translation icon : de crecimiento indeterminado
  • Pole beans are indeterminate plants, which means they continue to grow and produce beans throughout the entire season.
  • indeterminate tomato
  • indeterminate plant
  • indeterminate vine

Examples

  • Because if you don't, if you plant a indeterminate, you're going to get way less tomatoes.

  • The First Nations Partnership Programs demonstrate the value of an indeterminate, generated approach to strengthening community capacity through education that encourages broad community participation, invites multiple perspectives on a subject matter, and emphasizes Indigenous knowledge and experience.

    Academic text (2004)
  • As in conventional plants, growth is potentially indeterminate and development is open.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Sharks are indeterminate growers, right?

  • This plant right there, that plant is a indeterminate Cherokee purple with a determinate celebrity.

  • The indeterminate tomato variety produces fruit continuously as it grows, allowing for a longer harvest period.

  • An indeterminate plant will keep growing and flowering as long as the conditions remain favorable.

Synonyms

acrogenous
vsindeterminate
  • Specialized
9.9

Growing only at the tip of the main stem, like ferns or mosses

has the capacity to continue growing at the tip rather than grow only there

Antonyms

1 6.8

Fixed and clearly limited in amount or time

determinate
  • Specialized
8.2

A plant with a main stem that stops growing and makes flowers or fruit

How Indeterminate

indeterminate
  • Specialized
1 7.6
determinate
  • Specialized
8.2

Surface Forms

indeterminate positive
indeterminately positive

Morphology

indeterminate = determinate (semi-transparent) = in + determin + ate

If the technical botanical adjective 'determinate' is known, adding 'in-' straightforwardly gives its opposite.

Etymology

Indeterminate comes from in- 'not' and determine, which originally meant 'to set a limit', like the familiar word term meaning a 'limit' or 'end'. So a plant described as indeterminate has 'no fixed end' and can keep growing and flowering.