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indeterminably

indeterminably

8.4
You cannot know the exact meaning or result
  • adverb
  • /ˌɪndɪˈtɜrmɪnəbli/
translation icon : indeterminablemente
  • The outcome of the trial remained indeterminably uncertain for weeks.

Examples

  • The meaning behind his words was indeterminably vague, leaving us puzzled.

  • Her mood was indeterminably melancholic, neither cheerful nor truly sad.

  • The outcome of the experiment remained indeterminably uncertain.

  • He felt indeterminably lost in the vast city.

  • The meaning behind his words was indeterminably vague, leaving us puzzled.

  • Her mood was indeterminably melancholic, neither cheerful nor truly sad.

  • He felt indeterminably lost in the vast city.

Synonyms

indefinably
vsindeterminably
7.5

In a way you cannot clearly describe

is about being impossible to determine or define precisely
indeterminately
vsindeterminably
7.2

For an unknown length of time

emphasizes impossibility of precise determination rather than lack of limits

How Determinable

clearly
881 1.0
unclearly
1 4.4
ambiguously
3 6.7
indeterminably
8.4

Surface Forms

indeterminably positive

Morphology

indeterminably = indeterminable (transparent) = in + determine + able + ly

This is a regular adverb formed from the adjective 'indeterminable' with '-ly', and its meaning follows directly from the base.

Etymology

Indeterminably begins with in- meaning 'not' and the rest comes from determine, from a root that means 'to set a limit', the same idea you see in term and terminal. So indeterminably means 'in a way that cannot be given a clear limit', which is why we use it for things we cannot decide or measure exactly.