definatory

English

Etymology

From define +‎ -atory.

Adjective

definatory (comparative more definatory, superlative most definatory)

1. Defining or implying.
   • 1997, Mette Hjort, Sue Laver, Emotion and the Arts, →ISBN, page 52:

     Thus, it is urged, we identify which emotion one has by whether one has a belief that is definatory of that emotion (and which, depending on one's view, either causes or is “internally related” to the arousal): a belief that the situation is dangerous marks the emotion as fear, a belief that one has been wronged marks it as anger, and so on.

   • 2003, Agenda Relevance: A Study in Formal Pragmatics, →ISBN, page 300:

     Definatory rules tell you what you must do to make an inference; strategic rules tell you what you must do to make the inference adroitly.

   • 2011, Robert Audi, Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State, →ISBN, page 72:

     It is better to risk too broad a conception of religion than to err on the side of excessive restriction. To be sure, there are dangers of excessive definatory breadth.

   • 2015, Ronnie Solan, The Enigma of Childhood: The Profound Impact of the First Years of Life on Adults as Couples and Parents, →ISBN, page xiv:

     The paradox is experienced again, relentlessly as the child becomes more aware (as oral-stage achievements disposed the child to be) of the presence of food and stool within the alimentary canal and the meaning of even more portals of the body—definatory of the anal stage.

2. Providing a final judgement or conclusion.
   • 1930, Paul F. Brandwein, Self expression and conduct: the humanities, page 95:

     "That's 10-4, good buddy. Wall to wall and ten feet tall. You got draggin' wagon here going south on Eye-Two-Five. How's it look over your shoulder? Come on." "There's a 10-46 in the fifty-dollar lane north of Mile High City. Better bring yourself on up. Come on." "Definatory, good buddy. I'll put the pedal to the metal and 10-41 Channel 9. Eighty-eight and we gonna back 'em on out now, Roller."

   • 2000, Gerald Lewis Bray, Tudor Church Reform, →ISBN:

     A recusatory appointment doth grant a term to propound all exceptions and to eschew or defer the judgment. A probatory appointment is given to prove and to gather matter in the cause. A definatory appointment is to end the matter.

   • 2012, C. Peters, Cuban Identity and the Angolan Experience, →ISBN:

     This work is just a small first step that does not pretend to provide definatory conclusions, but rather to contribute towards setting guidelines for future systemization of this previously unstudied field of culture, and, in consequence, simultaneously shed light on elements that make up part of our nationhood.