decisive

in a sentence

grouped by contextual meaning

Tonight, they play the decisive game seven of the series.

In the end, it is character that is the decisive factor in a person's life.

She took decisive action to turn her life around.

Apparently, there had been a brief and decisive skirmish and I'd just missed it.  (source) Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, 2011

"Just the same, we got to get you home again, Winnie," said Tuck, standing up decisively.  (source) Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting, 1975

Something had to be done, something decisive—he couldn't spend the rest of the school year hiding from Dana Matherson and Beatrice Leep.  (source) Carl Hiassen, Hoot, 2002

"Okay then, I'll pick you up, no problem," Mom said decisively, sweeping the half-grapes into a snack bag with the side of her knife.  (source) R. J. Palacio, Wonder, 2012

A small reserve, held back until the end of the game, can be decisive.  (source) Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, 1977

Paul turned decisively back to his repair job.  (source) Mina Baites, The Silver Music Box, 2017

Two incidents were decisive in Mary's decision to move.  (source) Wes Moore, The Other Wes Moore, 2010

I nod decisively, at the last minute softening the gesture with a tilt of my head.  (source) Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies, 1994

Thanks to auxiliary fuel tanks and slender, ultraefficient Davis wings, it could fly literally all day, a decisive asset in the sprawling World War II theaters.  (source) Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken, 2010

"The Athenaeum takes only its own, and we are not its own," Father says decisively.  (source) Libba Bray, Sweet Far Thing, 2007

We need a decisive leader who can act quickly without losing time in consultation.

I established with myself on these occasions, the reputation of a first-rate man of business - prompt, decisive, energetic, clear, cool-headed.†  (source) Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

It was actually quite fortunate that they saw Frau Holtzapfel coming from the living room window, for her knuckles on the door were hard and decisive.  (source) Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, 2005

Their decisive movements showed they knew exactly where to go and what they were looking for.  (source) Wes Moore, The Other Wes Moore, 2010

This is a moment for him to show his decisiveness, and allowing the Selection to drag on doesn't look good.  (source) Kiera Cass, The Selection, 2012

She did this decisively, one jab and one grind, not the series of genteel taps favored by many of the Wives.  (source) Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, 1985

He had to have discipline, and that meant demanding—and getting—quick, decisive obedience.  (source) Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, 1977

Her decisiveness seemed to drive the others into action.†  (source) Henry H. Neff, The Second Siege, 2008

As he pushed down, the raised circle on the box slid into the ring's opening, and there was a faint but decisive click.  (source) Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, 2009

But the decisiveness of her message shook him to his very marrow, and when he walked into the cool shadows of the drawing room he did not have time to think about the miracle he was experiencing because his intestines suddenly filled in an explosion of painful foam.†  (source) Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, 1988

The war games required them to make decisive, rapid-fire decisions under conditions of high pressure and with limited information, which is, of course, what they did all day at work.  (source) Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, 2005

With an air of weary decisiveness, I opened the window, took the binoculars and climbed onto the ledge.†  (source) Don DeLillo, White Noise, 1985

Patria closed her purse with a decisive snap. "Let's just go."  (source) Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies, 1994