| 释义 |
de·fin·i·tive
I. \də̇ˈfinəd.]iv, dēˈ-, -ət]\ adjective
Etymology: Middle English diffinityf, from Middle French diffinitif, definitif, from Latin definitivus, from definitus + -ivus -ive
1. : serving to supply a final answer, solution, or evaluation and to end an unsettled unresolved condition
< a definitive victory >
< definitive surgical treatment >
2. archaic : fixed and unalterable in opinion or judgment
3. : most authoritative, reliable, and complete usually with the implication of final and perfected completeness or precision — used of research, scholarship, or criticism especially of a biographical or historical study or of a text or edition of a literary work or author
< definitive studies >
< it is the definitive book on the ghost or near-ghost towns of the Old West — Vardis Fisher >
< definitive complete works >
< the definitive review of this book has already been written — T.P.Thornton >
4. : serving to define or specify precisely
< definitive laws >
: distinguishing
< the term communist, orig. merely definitive, has become loosely condemnatory >
< species names are often definitive of the species >
5. : exact, express, and clearly defined; broadly : real, actual, and positive : definite
< the fears and definitive disappointments of the period — Edmund Wilson >
< a settled and definitive world order — Aldous Huxley >
6. biology : complete : fully developed : final
< a definitive organ >
— opposed to immature, primitive
7. of a postage stamp : issued as a regular stamp for the country or territory in which it is to be used — contrasted with provisional
Synonyms: see conclusive
II. noun
(-s)
1. archaic : a final judgment or sentence
2. : a definitive postage stamp |