Nondeterminism

//nɑndəˈtɝmɪnɪzəm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The opposite of determinism: the doctrine that there are factors other than the state and immutable laws of the universe involved in the unfolding of events, such as free will. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    Dependence on factors other than initial state and input. countable, uncountable

    "Moving from a single-processor to a multi-processor system often exposes hidden nondeterminism due to invalid assumptions about scheduling."

  3. 3
    The property of being nondeterministic, involving arbitrary choices; necessitating the choice between various indistinguishable possibilities. countable, uncountable

    "Projection of an automaton almost always results in nondeterminism."

Example

More examples

"Moving from a single-processor to a multi-processor system often exposes hidden nondeterminism due to invalid assumptions about scheduling."

Etymology

From non- + determinism.

Related phrases

angelic non-determinism

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.