determinative

determinative noun: an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.

Noun

determinative (plural determinatives)

An ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.

Synonyms:

taxogram
A member of a class of words functioning in a noun phrase to identify or distinguish a referent without describing or modifying it.

Synonyms:

determiner

determinative (comparative more determinative, superlative most determinative)

That determines something.
Sufficient to decide something (such as a question of fact or of law).
- When assigning custody, the preference of the child will be considered, but it is not determinative.
- This proceeding, though not presenting questions difficult of determination, or points of law that are novel, is unusual in many of its features, and is important as determinative of the disposition and welfare of a number of little children, ignorant of the contest that is being carried on in...1905 January 21, Ch. Kent, opinion, New York Foundling Hospital v. Gatti, Arizona [Territorial] Supreme Court, as reported in, 1907, The Lawyers Reports Annotated, new series, volume 7, page 313...

It is therefore clear that, even in adoption cases where it might play a more important role, race is not a determinative factor and its importance will depend greatly on the facts.2001, Michel Bastarache, “Van de Perre v. Edwards”, in CanLii:
An entity does not automatically conclude that any observed transaction price is determinative of fair value.2009 July, International Accounting Standards Board, Financial Instruments, →ISBN, page 617:

From Middle French déterminatif. Equivalent to determine + -ative.

What does determinative mean?: Determinative means an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts.
How do you use determinative in a sentence?: It is therefore clear that, even in adoption cases where it might play a more important role, race is not a determinative factor and its importance will depend greatly on the facts.
What part of speech is determinative?: Determinative can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of determinative?: The plural of determinative is determinatives.

Adapted from Wiktionary: determinative (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-determinative.wav.

Cite this entry: “determinative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/determinative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.