/di terr'meuh nay"sheuhn/ , n.
1. the act of coming to a decision or of fixing or settling a purpose.
2. ascertainment, as after observation or investigation: determination of a ship's latitude.
3. the information ascertained; solution.
4. the settlement of a dispute, question, etc., as by authoritative decision.
5. the decision or settlement arrived at or pronounced.
6. the quality of being resolute; firmness of purpose.
7. a fixed purpose or intention: It is my determination to suppress vice.
8. the fixing or settling of amount, limit, character, etc.: the determination of a child's allowance.
9. fixed direction or tendency toward some object or end.
10. Chiefly Law. conclusion or termination.
11. Embryol. the fixation of the fate of a cell or group of cells, esp. before actual morphological or functional differentiation occurs.
12. Logic.
a. the act of rendering a notion more precise by the addition of differentiating characteristics.
b. the definition of a concept in terms of its constituent elements.
[ 1350-1400; ME ( determination- (s. of determinatio ) a boundary, conclusion, equiv. to determinat ( us ) (see DETERMINATE) + -ion- -ION ]