English Reference

Word

undetermined

Phoneticsun·de·ter·mined

US/ˌəndiˈtɝmənd/

UK/ˌʌndɪtˈɜːmɪnd/

Definition

adj. not yet decided or known. You use this when a result or a fact is still waiting to be found out.

adj. not yet decided, established, or known. Often used to describe a status or result that remains in a state of uncertainty.

Examples

“The winner of the race is still undetermined.”

“The cause of the accident remains undetermined until the police finish their investigation.”

“While the initial evidence suggested a clear pattern, the final outcome of the experiment remains undetermined until the data is fully processed by the research team.”

Examples

simple

“The winner of the race is still undetermined.”

contextual

“The cause of the accident remains undetermined until the police finish their investigation.”

complex

“While the initial evidence suggested a clear pattern, the final outcome of the experiment remains undetermined until the data is fully processed by the research team.”

Real-World Examples

“At the same time, an 82-year-old pedestrian was crossing the road from the north-west corner of the intersection in an undetermined direction.”
Toronto Sun · 5 Sept 2026
“The third death was a man of unknown age found collapsed on the street, and the fourth a person of undetermined gender and age.”
Al Jazeera · 14 Aug 2026

Etymology

From un- + determined.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

Scan code

englishreference.com/q/undetermined

English Reference