Indeterminism
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The doctrine that all human actions are not so much determined by the preceding events, conditions, causes or karma as by deliberate choice or free will. uncountable
- 2 A case in which the uncertainty principle applies; a case in which certain pairs of physical properties such as the position and momentum of a particle cannot be known simultaneously. countable
"The classic examples in physics involve relativity theory and quantum theory and the recognition of the indeterminisms underlying those required the genius of Einstein and of Heisenberg."
- 3 Any situation in which the outcome cannot be completely predicted in advance. countable
"There is a whole gradation of more or less rigid determinisms and more or less free indeterminisms, as they have been given in various theories."
- 4 A situation in which there are multiple valid options for next step in a process. countable
"In detail, an inference strategy has to deal with the following three kinds of indeterminisms: 1. the selection of the initial path, 2. the selection of the next branch B to be expanded, 3. the selection of the next linking step to be performed on B."
Example
More examples"The classic examples in physics involve relativity theory and quantum theory and the recognition of the indeterminisms underlying those required the genius of Einstein and of Heisenberg."
Etymology
Borrowed from French indéterminisme, equivalent to in- + determinism.
Related phrases
More for "indeterminism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.