All 4 Uses of
definitive
in
1984, by Orwell
- And a few cubicles away a mild, ineffectual, dreamy creature named Ampleforth, with very hairy ears and a surprising talent for juggling with rhymes and metres, was engaged in producing garbled versions — definitive texts, they were called — of poems which had become ideologically offensive, but which for one reason or another were to be retained in the anthologies.
p. 42.3definitive = authoritative ("the best possible, real versions")
- 'The Eleventh Edition is the definitive edition,' he said.
p. 50.8 *definitive = best possible
- None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination.
p. 186.8definitively = in a manner that ends all question
- We were producing a definitive edition of the poems of Kipling.
p. 230.9definitive = best and most respected
Definitions:
-
(1)
(definitive) best possible, final, or definite (beyond question)
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much less commonly, definitive can describe something that defines or distinguishes a category, as in "The definitive characteristic of news is newness," or "Is there a single trait that is definitive of addictive personality disorder?"
Even more rarely, definitive can refer to a standard postage stamp. See a comprehensive dictionary for specializes senses in biology and grammar.