All 13 Uses

decisive
in
1776, by McCullough
(Edited)

The King was praised for his resolution to uphold the interests and honor of the kingdom, praised for his decisiveness.
p. 12.8 *

decisiveness = the quality of making quick decisions and sticking by them
And this, he said, must be done quickly and decisively, as an act of humanity.
p. 15.5

decisively = in a manner that settles a question once and for all
What was needed, Germain said, was a "decisive blow."
p. 19.9

decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
Washington accepted the decision, but work on the flat-bottomed boats continued, and in a long letter to John Hancock, he made the case for a "decisive stroke," adding, "I cannot say that I have wholly laid it aside."
p. 54.4
The state of inactivity, in which this army has lain for some time, by no means corresponds with my wishes, by some decisive stroke, to relieve my country from the heavy expense its subsistence must create.
p. 54.5
The general was known to want a "decisive action" as the surest way to wind things up quickly—which was also the adamant view of George Lord Germain, from whom he took his orders—and unlike some of his officers, he was certain the Americans would fight.
p. 143.6
In a letter written before sailing for New York from Halifax, he had said they were undoubtedly spoiling for a fight, that "flushed with the idea of superiority after the evacuation of Boston, [they] may be readier brought to a decisive action," and that nothing was "more to be desired or sought for" as the most effective means "to terminate this expensive war."
p. 143.8
But as resounding as the British victory had been, it was not a decisive victory.
p. 197.4 *
The day could have led to a decisive change in American strategy.
p. 229.2

decisive = determining an outcome
Rather, in eighteenth-century military fashion, he hoped to maneuver Washington onto the open field, and then, with his superior, professional force, destroy the Yankee "rabel" in one grand, decisive victory.
p. 233.2

decisive = conclusive in settling a matter
"The enemy are determined on something decisive," Henry Knox wrote to his brother, "and we are determined to risk a general battle on the most advantageous terms."
p. 234.5
Accident may put a decisive blunder in the right, but eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend the men of the best parts if cursed with indecision.
p. 254.7

decisive = from a quick, firm decision
As during the escape from Brooklyn, Washington's other daring river-crossing by night, a northeaster was again, decisively, a blessing and a curse—a blessing in that it covered the noise of the crossing, a curse in that, with the ice on the river, it was badly slowing progress when time was of the essence.
p. 275.8

decisively = in a manner that settles something

Click For
Best Example Sentences
From Other Sources
Grouped by 2 Meanings

Definitions:

(1) (decisive as in: a decisive defeat)
determining an outcome; or ending question
(2) (decisive as in: a decisive decision maker)
making quick decisions and sticking by them; or describing an action as firm or without hesitation
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)

decisive in 1776, by McCullough (Edited)

decisive
in
1776, by McCullough
(Edited)