Part 5739

<blockquote>The sword awes the <b>indefensive</b> villager. <i>Sir T. Herbert.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Indeficiency</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In`de*fi"cien*cy</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>The state or quality of not being deficient.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i>Strype.</i>

<h1>Indeficient</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In`de*fi"cient</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>indeficiens</ets>. See <er>In-</er> not, and <er>Deficient</er>.]</ety> <def>Not deficient; full.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>Brighter than the sun, and <b>indeficient</b> as the light of heaven. <i>Jer. Taylor.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Indefinable</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In`de*fin"a*ble</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Incapable of being defined or described; inexplicable.</def>

<i>Bp. Reynolds.</i>

<h1>Indefinably</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In`de*fin"a*bly</hw>, <tt>adv.</tt> <def>In an indefinable manner.</def>

<h1>Indefinite</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In*def"i*nite</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>indefinitus</ets>. See <er>In-</er> not, and <er>Definite</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; <as>as, an <ex>indefinite</ex> time, plan, etc.</as></def>

<blockquote>It were to be wished that . . . men would leave off that <b>indefinite</b> way of vouching, "the chymists say this," or "the chymists affirm that." <i>Boyle.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The time of this last is left <b>indefinite</b>. <i>Dryden.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as <i>indefinite</i> space; the <i>indefinite</i> extension of a straight line.</def>

<blockquote>Though it is not infinite, it may be <b>indefinite</b>; though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so to human comprehension. <i>Spectator.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>Boundless; infinite.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<blockquote><b>Indefinite</b> and omnipresent God, Inhabiting eternity. <i>W. Thompson (1745).</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <fld>(Bot.)</fld> <def>Too numerous or variable to make a particular enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower, and the like. Also, indeterminate.</def>

<cs><col>Indefinite article</col> <fld>(Gram.)</fld>, <cd>the word <i>a<i> or <i>an<i>, used with nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.</cd> -- <col>Indefinite inflorescence</col>. <fld>(Bot.)</fld> <cd>See <cref>Indeterminate inflorescence</cref>, under <er>Indeterminate</er>.</cd> -- <col>Indefinite proposition</col> <fld>(Logic)</fld>, <cd>a statement whose subject is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or nondistribution; as, <i>Man is mortal<i>.</cd> -- <col>Indefinite term</col> <fld>(Logic)</fld>, <cd>a negative term; as, <i>the not-good<i>.</cd></cs>

<syn>Syn. -- Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate; loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.</syn>

<h1>Indefinitely</h1> <Xpage=750>

<hw>In*def"i*nite*ly</hw>, <tt>adv.</tt> <def>In an indefinite manner or degree; without any settled limitation; vaguely; not with certainty or exactness; <as>as, to use a word <ex>indefinitely</ex></as>.</def>

<blockquote>If the world be <b>indefinitely</b> extended, that is, so far as no human intellect can fancy any bound of it. <i>Ray.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Indefiniteness</h1> <Xpage=750>