decisiveadjective
uk/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv/us/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv/B2 able to make decisions quickly and confidently, or showing this quality:
You need to be more decisive.
a decisive reply
Opposite
indecisive
C1 strongly affecting how a situation will progress or end:
These results could prove decisive in establishing the criminal's identity.
a decisive role
a decisive victory
More examples
- This decisive defeat puts them out of contention for this year's championship finals.
- The economy is regarded as the decisive factor which will determine the outcome of the general election.
- Unless decisive action is taken to combat the disease, the death toll will continue to rise.
- Gettysburg is the site of the last and most decisive battle of the Civil War.
- Australia won the decisive fifth match by 47 runs, to take an eventful and exciting series 3-2.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Decisions and deciding
- be make or break for sb/sth idiom
- be on the horns of a dilemma idiom
- clinch
- clincher
- come down on one side of the fence or the other idiom
- come to sth
- decider
- fight
- hammer sth out
- head
- it's a date idiom
- lot
- make or break sth idiom
- make up your mind idiom
- mind
- name
- name the day idiom
- plunge
- spin a coin idiom
- toss
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decisively
adverb uk/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv.li/us/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv.li/
C2
If we had acted earlier and more decisively (= more quickly and effectively) it might not have come to this.
decisiveness
noun [ U ] uk/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv.nəs/us/dɪˈsaɪ.sɪv.nəs/