Indefinite \In*def"i*nite\, a. [L. indefinitus. See In- not, and Definite.]

1. Not definite; not limited, defined, or specified; not explicit; not determined or fixed upon; not precise; uncertain; vague; confused; obscure; as, an indefinite time, plan, etc.

It were to be wished that . . . men would leave off that indefinite way of vouching, ``the chymists say this,'' or ``the chymists affirm that.'' --Boyle.

The time of this last is left indefinite. --Dryden.

2. Having no determined or certain limits; large and unmeasured, though not infinite; unlimited; as indefinite space; the indefinite extension of a straight line.

Though it is not infinite, it may be indefinite; though it is not boundless in itself, it may be so to human comprehension. --Spectator.

3. Boundless; infinite. [R.]

Indefinite and omnipresent God, Inhabiting eternity. --W. Thompson (1745).

4. (Bot.) Too numerous or variable to make a particular enumeration important; -- said of the parts of a flower, and the like. Also, indeterminate.

Indefinite article (Gram.), the word a or an, used with nouns to denote any one of a common or general class.

Indefinite inflorescence. (Bot.) See Indeterminate inflorescence, under Indeterminate.

Indefinite proposition (Logic), a statement whose subject is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or nondistribution; as, Man is mortal.

Indefinite term (Logic), a negative term; as, the not-good.

Syn: Inexplicit; vague; uncertain; unsettled; indeterminate; loose; equivocal; inexact; approximate.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)