different between dubious vs indeterminate

English

Etymology

From Latin dubius; like doubt, from Latin duo (cognate to English two), implying “two alternatives” (yes or no, true or false, etc.).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?dju?bi.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?du.bi.?s/
• Rhymes: -u?bi?s

Adjective

dubious (comparative more dubious, superlative most dubious)

1. (of a statement) Arousing doubt; questionable; open to suspicion.
   • 2011, Nigel Jones, "A Tale of Two Scandals", History Today, February 2011, Vol. 61 Issue 2, pages 10–17

     Evasive, womanising, boastful, malicious, untrustworthy, an inveterate gambler who combined his mediocre military career with running a high-class brothel, permanently cash strapped and viciously quarrelsome, his character is as dubious as his unsavoury appearance.
2. (of a person) In disbelief; wavering, uncertain, or hesitating in opinion; inclined to doubt; undecided.

   She was dubious about my plan at first, but later I managed to persuade her to cooperate.

   • 2010, John M. Broder, "Global Climate-Change Talks Begin in Cancun With More Modest Expectations", New York Times, November 30, Section A, Column 0, Foreign Desk, page 12

     Last year, President Obama had large majorities in Congress and hopes of passing a comprehensive climate and energy bill. Next year, he faces a new Congress much more dubious about the reality of climate change and considerably more hostile to international efforts to deal with it.

3. (chess, chiefly of an opening move) Generally considered imprecise or wrong, but not totally unplayable.

Usage notes

Largely synonymous with doubtful, when used of statements or facts, dubious is used when the statement is a cause of doubt, while doubtful is used when a fact is in doubt. For example, “the company’s earnings report was dubious” vs. “his chances for recovery are doubtful”.

Derived terms

• dubious honor / dubious honour
• dubiously
• dubiousness

Translations

See also

• doubtful
• doubt

References

See also

• (?)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?nd??t??(?)m?n?t/

Adjective

indeterminate (comparative more indeterminate, superlative most indeterminate)

1. Not accurately determined or determinable.
2. Imprecise or vague.
3. (mathematical analysis, of certain forms of limit) Not definitively or precisely determined, because of the presence of infinity or zero symbols used in any of several improper combinations.
4. (biology, of growth) With no genetically defined end, and thus theoretically limitless.
5. (botany, of inflorescences) Not topped with some form of terminal bud.
6. Intersex.
7. (architecture) Designed to allow the incorporation of future changes whose nature is not yet known.
   • 2014, David Oakley, The Phenomenon of Architecture in Cultures in Change, page 196,

     It bears an affinity to the problem of indeterminate architecture—the indeterminate residential area.

Synonyms

• indeterminant

Antonyms

• determinate

Derived terms

Related terms

• indeterminacy

Translations

Noun

indeterminate (plural indeterminates)

1. (algebra, strict sense) A symbol that resembles a variable or parameter but is used purely formally and neither signifies nor is ever assigned a particular value;
   (loose sense) a variable.
   • 1862, H. J. Stephen Smith, Report on the Theory of Numbers—Part III, Report of the 31st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, British Association for the Advancement of Science, page 292,

     The form is linear, quadratic, cubic, biquadratic or quartic, quintic, &c., according to its order in respect of the indeterminates it contains; and binary, ternary, quaternary, &c., according to the number of its indeterminates. Thus ${\displaystyle x^{2}+y^{2}}$ is a binary quadratic form, ${\displaystyle x^{3}+y^{3}+z^{3}-3xyz}$ is a ternary cubic form.

   • 1892, Henry B. Fine, Kronecker and His Arithmetical Theory of the Algebraic Equation, Thomas S. Fiske, Harold Jacoby (editors), Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, Volume 1, New York Mathematical Society, page 179,

     Such a factor is therefore an integral function of ${\displaystyle x}$ and the indeterminates ${\displaystyle u_{1},u_{2},\dots u_{n}}$ with coefficients belonging to the domain of rationality ${\displaystyle (R',R'',..)}$ and may be represented by ${\displaystyle g(x,u_{1},u_{2},..u_{n})}$.

   • 2006, Alexander B. Levin, Difference Algebra, M. Hazewinkel, Handbook of Algebra, page 251,

     Let ${\displaystyle T=T_{\sigma }}$ and let ${\displaystyle S}$ be the polynomial ${\displaystyle R}$-algebra in the set of indeterminates ${\displaystyle \left\{y_{i,\tau }\right\}_{i\in I,\tau \in T}}$ with indices from the set ${\displaystyle I\times T}$.

Usage notes

The distinction between indeterminate and variable when discussing, say, a polynomial, is often overlooked: an indeterminate is regarded as a type of variable. In fact, the distinction relates to the context: i.e., whether one is discussing a polynomial per se (a formal expression consisting of coefficients and indeterminates) or the function that the polynomial represents when the indeterminate is considered a variable. Moreover, some authors choose to use the terms indeterminate and variable interchangeably.

Translations

See also

• indefinite
• undetermined

Further reading

• Indeterminate equation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Indeterminate form on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Formal power series on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Adjective

indeterminate

1. feminine plural of indeterminato

Latin

Adjective

ind?termin?te

1. vocative masculine singular of ind?termin?tus

References

• indeterminate in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)