determine
verb
Simple meaning
Decide upon or fix definitely.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
duhturmuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dəˈtɝmən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Decide upon or fix definitely
To ascertain definitely; to figure out, find out, or conclude by analyzing, calculating, or investigating.
Fix in scope; fix the boundaries of
“The tree determines the border of the property.”
To bring to a conclusion, as a question or controversy; to settle authoritative or judicial sentence; to decide.
To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle.
To resolve (to do something); to establish a fixed intention; to cause (something) to come to a conclusion or decision; to lead.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Fix in scope; fix the boundaries of
Used this way, determine is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The tree determines the border of the property.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Having been learned or found or determined especially by investigation.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation.
A philosophical theory holding that all events are inevitable consequences of antecedent sufficient causes.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A determining or causal element or factor.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.